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STUDIES IN HISTORY 

ECONOMICS AND 

PUBLIC LAW 



EDITED BY 

THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 

OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



VOLUME ELEVENTH 




COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
StXfa port 
1898-1899 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Growth of Cities — Adna Ferrin Weber, Ph. D. . . . 495 



^ ■ ^^ 




1. England and Wales 

2. Scotland 

3. Australia (7 colonies) 

4. Belgium 

5. Saxony 

6. Netherlands 

7. Turkey in Europe 

8. China 

9. Uruguay 
10 Prussia 

11. Germany 

12. Argentina 

13. United States 

15. France 

16. Denmark 

17. Spain 

18. Italy 
ig. Bavaria 

.20, Iceland 
"21. Canada 

22. Chile 

23. Norway 

24. Switzerland 

27. Austria 

28. Hungary 

29. Egypt 

30. Ecuador 

31. Venezuela 

33. Roumania 

34. Greece 

35. Sweden 

36. Central America 

37. Japan 
39. Mexico 
41. Transvaal 
43. Portugal 
45. Bulgaria 
47. Brazil 
49. Russia 
52. British India 
56. Servia 

Diagram (based on Table CXII, pp. 143-4) showing the percentage of population dwelling in 
cities at the latest censuses. 
Legenb. 
I Percentage of total population dwelling in cities of 100,000 + . , 

^ " " " " 20,000-100,000, 

3 " *' 10,000-20,000. 

The entire length of the bars therefore represents the percentage of city dwellers in the total population 
of the countries named. Broken ends indicate lack of satisfactory statistics for exact measurements. 



STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW 

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

Volume XI 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

A STUDY IN STATISTICS 



BY > 

ADNA FERRTN WEBER, Ph.D. 

SOMETIME UNIVEKSITY FELLOW IN ECONOJnCS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN 

COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY 

DEPUTY COMMISSIONEE OF LABOK STATISTICS OF NEW YORK STATB 




PUBLISHED FOR 

Columbia xantvetsitp 

BY 

THE MACMIliT.AN COMPANY, NEW YORK 

P. S. KING AND SON, LONDON 

1899 



.*^*^ 

v^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1899 
By the Columbia Studies in History, Economics and Public Law 






" The proportion between the rural and town population of a country is an 
important fact in its interior economy and condition. It determines, in a great 
degree, its capacity for manufactures, the extent of its commerce and the amount 
of its wealth. The growth of cities commonly marks the progress of intelligence 
and the arts, measures the sum of social enjoyment, and always implies excessive 
mental activity, which is sometimes healthy and useful, sometimes distempered 
and pernicious. If these congregations of men diminish some of the comforts of 
life, they augment others; if they are less favorable to health than the country, 
they also provide better defense against disease and better means of cure. From 
causes both political and moral, they are less favorable to the multiplication of 
the species. In the eyes of the moralist, cities afford a wider field both for virtue 
and vice; and they are more prone to innovation, whether for good or evil. 
The love of civil liberty is, perhaps, both stronger and more constant m the 
country than the town; and if it is guarded in the cities by a keener vigilance 
and a more far-sighted jealousy, yet law, order and security are also, in them, 
more exposed to danger, from the greater facility with which intrigue and ambi- 
tion can there operate on ignorance and want. What ever may be the good or evil 
tendencies of populous cities, they are the result to which all countries that are 
at once fertile, free and intelligent, inevitably tend." 

— George Tucker, Progress of the United States in Population and Wealth in 
Fifty Years, p. 127. 

(iii) 



^0 

JACOB GOULD SCHURMAN 

SCHOLAR, ADMINISTRATOR, STATESMAN 

THIS ESSAY IS DEDICATED 

WITH THE ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE 

OFTHB 

AUTHOR. 



PREKACK. 



The present essay embraces the results of a statistical in- 
vestigation of the growth of cities during the nineteenth 
century which was originally undertaken for a doctor's dis- 
sertation. In preparing the essay for a wider circle of readers 
than the specialists to whom the doctor's thesis primarily 
appeals, the author realized the difficulty of reconciling the 
aims of a scientific treatise, wherein sharply-defined technical 
terms and simple, abstract statements lend conciseness to 
style, with the requisites of a popular work; and in explain- 
ing technical terms and illustrating the propositions laid 
down or deductions drawn, he has had to expand the essay 
beyond his original intention. While its value may thereby 
have been somewhat impaired for the specialist, the subject 
itself is so important to present-day students that it will lend 
interest to almost any attempt to present the facts with 
clearness and impartiality. 

The assistance rendered to the author by instructors, 
librarians and friends has been so generous that full 
acknowledgment cannot be given in this place. He is under 
especial obligation, however, to Dr. E. Blenck, director of 
the Royal Prussian Statistical Bureau in Berlin, through 
whose courtesy he was enabled to collect most of his statis- 
tical data in the unrivalled statistical library of the Bureau ; 
to Professors Johannes Conrad, of the University of Halle, 
Max Sering, of the University of Berlin, and John B. Clark, 
of Columbia University, for helpful suggestions ; and most 
of all to Professor Walter F. Willcox, of Cornell University, 
for stimulating criticism and sound advice during almost the 
entire period of the preparation of the essay. Acknowledg- 
ments are also due to Professors Edwin R. A. Seligman and 
Richmond Mayo-Smith, of Columbia University, who read 
the proof. All responsibility for errors, however, rests upon 
the writer alone. While he has exercised due care in the 
copying and compilation of statistics, he does not hope for 
absolute accuracy, and begs the indulgence of his readers in 
their judgment of arithmetical errors. 

Albany, May 15, 1899. 

(vii) 



ABBREVIATIONS 



AUg. St. Ar. — Allgemeines Statistisches Archiv. 

Bleicher — Beitrage zur Statistik der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Neue Folge, Erstes 

Heft: Statistische Beschreibung der Stadt und ihrer Bevolkerung, II. Theil: 

Die innere Gliederung der BevSlkerung. Bearbeitet von dem Vorsteher des 

Statistischen Amtes, Dr. H. Bleicher, 1895. 
Conrad's Hdwbh. — Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, edited by Conrad, 

Elster, Lexis and Loening. First edition, 6 vols. -|- 2 sup. vols., Jena, 1890—97. 
J. of St. Soc. — Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, London. 
Levasseur — La Population Frangaise, 3 vols. 

St. Mon, — Statistische Monatschrift (pub. by Austrian Statistical Bureau). 
Ilth Cen., Agr. — Eleventh Census of the United States (1890). Report on the 

Statistics of Agriculture, 
nth Cen., Mfs. — Eleventh Census of the United States (1890). Report on 

Manufacturing Industries. 
nth Cen., Pop. — Eleventh Census of the United States (1890). Report on 

Population, 
nth Cen., Stat, of Cities — Eleventh Census of the United States (1890). Report 

on the Social Statistics of Cities (by Dr. J. S. Billings).. 
For the full titles of the works cited under the following abbreviations, the reader 

is referred to the bibliographical note at the end of the volume : (p. 476) 
Harper. Kuczynski. 

Hassel, 1809, Legoyt. 

Hassel, 1822. Supan. 

Kolb. Worcester, 

(viii) 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Diagram Illustrative of the Concentration of Population — Front- 
ispiece. 

Preface vii 

Abbreviations viii 

CHAPTER I 

Introduction 

Comparison of the distribution of population in the United States in 1790 and 

in Australia in 1891 I 

Methods of studying the distribution of population 2 

Density of population 4 

Agglomeration, or community life : 

In antiquity 5 

In the middle ages 6 

In modern times 7 

Statistical measurements of agglomeration : 

French, Italian and English methods 9 

Supan's method lO 

Legal definitions of urban centre 12 

Definitions of ofHcial statisticians 14 

Final classification of dwelling-places 16 

Comparability of urban statistics : 

Limitations arising from territorial extent 17 

Limitations arising from annexation of new territory 18 

CHAPTER II 

The History and Statistics of Urban Growth. 

I. The United States 20 

II. The United Kingdom of Great Britain ana Ireland: 

1. England and Wales 40 

2. Scotland 57 

3. Ireland 64 

(ix) 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

III. France 67 

IV. Germany 80 

V. Austria 94 

VI, Hungary 100 

VII. Russia 105 

VIII. Sweden 109 

IX. Norway iii 

X. Denmark 112 

XL The Netherlands 1 14 

XII. Belgium 115 

XIII. Switzerland 117 

XIV. Italy • • 117 

XV. Other European Countries : 

Spain 119 

Portugal 120 

Greece I20 

Turkey in Europe 120 

Bosnia and Herzogowina 121 

Servia 121 

Bulgaria 121 

Roumania 122 

XVI. Asiatic Countries : 

1. Asiatic Turkey 122 

2. Persia 123 

3. British India 123 

4. Philippine Islands 128 

5. China , 129 

6. Japan 129 

XVII. American Conntries : 

1. Canada 130 

2. Mexico 132 

3- Brazil 133 

4. Argentina 134 

5- Chile 13s 

6. Other American Countries , . 135 

XVIII. African Countries 137 

XIX. Australasia 138 

XX. Sumi7iary and Conclusions 142 



CONTENTS 



XI 



PAGE 

CHAPTER III 

Causes of the Concentration of Population 

I. Introductory 155 

The evolution of industrial society , 158 

II. The divorce of men from the soil: 

Primitive agriculture the all-embracing industry 160 

Agriculture and ancient cities 163 

Agricultural progress in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . . 164 

III. The growth of commercial centres: 

Authorities 169 

The origin of towns 171 

The location of towns 172 

The differentiation of society into town and country 175 

The town economy 176 

The national economy .... 177 

Commerce requires large cities 181 

Biological analogy i S3 

IV. The growth of industrial centres: 

Authorities 184 

The evolution of industry 185 

The factory system and the decay of villages 187 

Connection of centralized industry with steam 192 

The division of labor a permanent advantage of centralized industry . 195 

Effect on the distribution of population 196 

Relation of transportation methods to geographical specialization . . 197 

Railway tariff policy in the United States and Europe 199 

Recent decentralizing tendencies 202 

Relative advantages of city and country for production 204 

V. Secondary, or individual causes : 

1. Economic 210 

2. Political 213 

3. Social 218 

VI. Conclusions: 

Effect of the different industries upon the distribution of population . 223 

The law of diminishing returns 225 

Settlement of new lands 226 

Changes in consumption 227 

Forecast , 228 



xi CONTENTS 

PACK 

CHAPTER IV 

Urban Growth and Internal Migration 

Migration cityward not of recent origin : References in the literature of four- 
teenth and subsequent centuries 230 

London's immigrants in 1580 and 1880 compared 232 

The rapid urban growth of the nineteenth century a result of the reduction 

of mortality 233 

The course of evolution as shown in Swedish statistics 237 

Modern European cities 239 

Natural increase and immigration compared, for {a) Great cities, (^) Urban 

population 240 

Critical review 246 

Statistics of birth-place 247 

The volume of internal migration 248 

Migration in different countries compared 249 

Interstate migration decreasing in the United States 25 1 

Internal migration increasing in Continental Europe 252 

Nature of the migratory movement : 

(i) Predominantly for short distances 255 

(2) Cities the centres of attraction 255 

(3) Magnitude of the city affects the average distance traversed by 

migrants , 259 

(4) The larger the city, the greater its proportion of outsiders .... 260 

American conditions 263 

No progression through places of increasing magnitude 267 

Mobility of population, {a) rural, {b) urban, (r) large cities 273 

Character of migrants : 

(i) Sex 276 

(2) Age . , • 280 

(3) Length of residence 282 

CHAPTER V 

THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 

I. Sex — The cities contain a larger proportion of women than do the rural 

populations 285 

Causes, immigration of females ? 289 

emigration of males ? 290 

ratio of the sexes at birth ? 294 

heavy infant mortality ? 295 

adult male mortality ? 296 



CONTENTS xiii 

PACK 

II. Age — middle-age classes predominate in city populations 300 

Immigration the cause 301 

Results of age grouping 302 

III. Race and Nationality: 

Foreigners not increasing in American cities 304 

Negroes in American cities — Influx and mortality 310 

IV. Occupation and Social Rank 314 

CHAPTER VI 

The Natural Movement of Population in City and in Country 

I. Marriages: 

Higher marriage-rate in the cities 318 

How explained? By age-distribution? By employment of young 

women ? . > 320 

Conjugal condition ; cities contain the more unmarried 322 

Contradictory statistics in Massachusetts 324 

Result of late marriages 326 

Influence of migration 328 

Immigrants to cities marry early 328 

Divorces : 

More numerous in cities 329 

Reasons 329 

II. Fecundity : 

Crude birth-rates 330 

Refined birth-rates 332 

Prussia, Massachusetts, Saxony, Denmark, etc t^t^t, 

Conflicting results 335 

Average size of families 336 

The theory of population 338 

Occupation and social rank influence marriage and fecundity 341 

III. Deaths: 

Crude and refined rates favor the rural districts 343 

Relation of mortality to density of population 344 

Mortality at various ages 345 

Duration of life in city and country 346 

Causes of the high urban mortality 348 

Sanitary improvements needed 349 

The question of model tenements 353 

Other suggested remedies 354 

Progress as indicated in reduced death-rates 355 



xiv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

German and English experience * 356 

Occupational mortality 359 

Infant mortality 360 

Influence of migration 365 

CHAPTER VII 

The Physical and Moral Health of City and Country 

Are cities the cause of race deterioration ? 368 

Hansen's plea for the peasantry and indictment of cities examined 370 

(i) Do the city-born reside in the poorest quarters of the city, the 

country-born in the wealthiest ?"•..•• 37 1 

(2) Do the city-born predominate in the unskilled occupations and 

lowest social ranks ? 373 

(3) Do the cities contribute disproportionately to the ranks of paupers 

and degenerates? 383 

(4) Would cities die out if the current of migration were to cease ? . . 386 

(5) Is the intellectual aristocracy incapable of self-continuance ? . . . 387 
The cities as the instruments of natural selection 388 

Hansen's Bevolkerungsstrom 388 

Rise of the immigrants in city industrial ranks 389 

Physical infirmities 392 

Stature 393 

Girth of chest 393 

Military efficiency 395 

Conclusions as to physical vigor , 396 

Moral conditions , 397 

Intelligence 397 

Religion and morality 399 

Suicide 401 

Crime 403 

Conclusions as to urban morality 407 

CHAPTER VIII 

General Effects of the Concentration of Population 

Economic conditions in city and country 410 

Statistics of income 41 1 

Wages of unskilled labor 41 1 

Cost of living 412 

City rents 413 

Overcrowding 414 



CONTENTS XV 

FAGB 

I. General economic effects of agglomeration 417 

On the production of wealth 417 

Agriculture 418 

Distribution of wealth 419 

Organization of labor » 419 

Has the movement gone too far ? 420 

Unemployment in cities 420 

Scarcity of labor on the farm 422 

Conclusion 424 

II. Political effects 425 

National wealth and power 425 

National stability 426 

Tenancy in the United States • . 426 

Internal politics 427 

The problem of municipal government 428 

III. Social effects 43I 

1. Extreme individualism in cities threatens social solidarity 432 

Counter-tendencies 434 

2. Rural and village decadence 437 

Rural education 437 

3. Cities are the centres of free thought and liberalism, of civilization and 
progress 439 

Need of cities in the Southern States 440 

4. Role of the cities in the process of natural selection 441 

CHAPTER IX 

TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 

Concentration and centralization of population all but universal 446 

Obscured in England and the United States 446 

Great cities in history 448 

Growth of modern great cities 449 

Limits to the growth of a metropolis 45^ 

Discussion of remedies in the past 454 

Recent propositions 454 

Fees for settlement 455 

Agricultural improvements 455 

Village attractions 45^ 

Administrative decentralization 45^ 

City improvements discontinued 457 

Suburban development 45^ 

The process of " city-building " 459 



Xvi CONTENTS 

PACK 

Transportation and the density of population 469 

Suburban travel in America 470 

Importance of rapid transit 471 

Advantages of suburbs for manufacturing 473 

The " rise of the suburbs," the hope of the future 474 

Bibliographical Note 476 

Index of Authors 479 

Index of Subjects 483 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



1790. 

Popiilation of the United States 3,929,214 

Population of cities of 10,000 and more 123,551 

Proportion living in cities of 10,000 and more >3- 14 per cent. 



Population of the 7 colonies of Australia 3,809,895 

Population of cities of 10,000 or more 1,264,283 

Proportion living in cities of 10,000 or more 33.20 per cent. 

That the most remarkable social phenomenon of the 
present century is the concentration of population in cities 
is a common observation, to which point is given by the 
foregoing comparison of two typical countries of different 
centuries. The Australia of to-day has the population of 
the America of 1790; it is peopled by men of the same 
race ; it is liberal and progressive and practical ; it is a 
virgin country with undeveloped resources ; it is, to an 
equal extent, politically and socially independent of Euro- 
pean influence. But Australia is of the nineteenth, rather 
than of the eighteenth century ; and that is the vital fact 
which explains the striking difference in the distribution of 
population brought out by the introductory comparison. 
What is true of the Australia of 1891 is, in a greater or less 
degree, true of the other countries in the civilized world. 
The tendency towards concentration or agglomeration is all 
but universal in the Western world. 

What are the forces that have produced such a shifting 
of population? Are they enduring? What is to be the 
ultimate result? 

(O 



2 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

What are the economic, moral, political and social conse- 
quences of the re-distribution of population? What is to be 
the attitude of the publicist, the statesman, the teacher toward 
the movement? 

These are some of the questions to be answered, so far as 
may be, in the course of the present investigation. They are 
not questions capable of off-hand answers, for they are parts 
of a great problem. As Mackenzie says, " the growth of large 
cities constitutes perhaps the greatest of all the problems of 
modern civilization."^ It is the problem of dwindling dis- 
trict schools, of city labor disputes, of the tenement house, 
of municipal transit, of agrarian reforms, of the "destitute" 
country village, of the "submerged tenth" and the physical 
wastes of civilization, — in short, it touches or underlies most 
of the practical questions of the day. " The social problem 
that confronts practical people is in a very great degree the 
problem of the city." ^ It is, therefore, of prime importance 
to ascertain the extent of the movement and its probable 
direction in the future ; the forces that may be presumed to 
cause it ; the more immediate as well as the ultimate conse- 
quences; and the possible remedies. 

To a certain extent the distribution of the inhabitants of 
the earth is determined by man's physical environment.3 
Nature's mandate it is that explains why the arctic have 
fewer inhabitants than the temperate zones, why mountain- 
ous regions are not so densely settled as valleys. To study 
the distribution of population, geographers and statisticians 
calculate the density of population, the number of inhabi- 
tants to the square mile or acre, and then compare variations 
in density with variations in climate, soil, earth formation, 

1 Introduction to Social Philosophy, p. loi. 

' Gilman, Socialism and the American Spirit, p. 30. 

*Cf. Ratzel, Antkropo-Geographie. 



INTRODUCTION 3 

political institutions, etc., in order to ascertain the causes 
that determine the distribution. 

But the distribution of population is only partially ex- 
plained by natural causes. With the same physical environ- 
ment, the American people are differently distributed from 
the native Indians. The latter lived in tribes and congre- 
gated only in villages, because means of communication 
were too undeveloped and the population too small to permit 
the division of labor between city and country. Primitive 
peoples probably did not live in scattered dwellings, for man 
is a social being ; at the present time, at least, the lowest 
races like the Australians and Terra del Fuegians dwell in 
small family groups. The group can never be very large as 
long as it derives its sustenance from the land it occupies. 
With the growth of transport facilities and the development 
of trade, the community may obtain its food-supply from 
outside sources in exchange for its own products. Then 
arises a differentiation of dweUing-centres and their func- 
tions, which increases pari passu with the development of 
methods of communication, and very noticeably affects the 
customs and modes of life of the inhabitants. That the 
townsman is different from the countryman has long been 
recognized in politics, law and social science. The names 
"pagan" and "heathen" originally designated countrymen, 
while the abjective " urbane " and the nouns " citizen " and 
"politics" are derived from the Latin and Greek terms for 
city. In modern German '^ kleinstddtisch" is a term of re- 
proach, while in nearly all languages there exists a strong 
antithesis between "citified" and "countrified." 

As our study proceeds, we shall discover fundamental dif- 
ferences in the structure of city and rural populations, which 
underlie and explain the ordinary manifestations of disagree- 
ment just noted. But the first step must be the determina- 
tion of a method of measurement that can be used with some 



A THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

degree of refinement. In other words, when does a dweUing 
centre cease to be rural and become urban? 

One method of studying the spatial relations of men and 
communities to one another is by measuring the density of 
population ; the more human beings to the square mile, the 
closer together must be their habitations. The Hmitations 
upon the use of this method are, however, very considerable. 
Given two districts of equal population and territorial extent, 
there will be equal density; but in one case, the population 
may be scattered in small communities, and in the other 
congregated in a few large centres. In the latter case the 
average density will not be a true average ; for example, to 
say that the average number of persons to the square kilo- 
meter in the province of Brandenburg, including the city of 
Berlin, is 112, is to give a ratio that ' is true neither of the 
rural part of the province (70) nor of Berlin itself (26,456). 
And when it is said that in California there are 7.78 persons 
to the square mile, in New Hampshire 41.81,^ it does not 
follow that in California the people are scattered and in New 
Hampshire agglomerated. On the contrary, 41 per cent, of 
the Californians dwell in towns of 10,000 or more inhabitants, 
and in New Hampshire only 25 per cent.- Or compare Eng- 

' Cf. Willcox, " Density and Distribution of Population in the United States at 
the Eleventh Census," Economic Studies of Amer. Econ. Ass'n., ii, 395. 

^ Table CXV, infra. Objection may be made to the use of California in such 
comparisons, since its average density is not a true average. But no such objec- 
tion can be raised against Iowa, which, as Prof. Willcox says, {op. cii., 418), "is 
perhaps the most evenly settled State in the Union as measured by the mean 
variation of the densities of population of its counties from the State average." 
Vermont and Mississippi also have small percentages of variation, yet how differ- 
ent the distribution of population ! 

Table I. 

Per cent, of population 

Density. in cities of 10.000 +. 

Missouri 38.98 25.59 

Vermont 36.39 7.93 

Iowa 34.47 13.62 

Mississippi 27.83 2.64 

United States I7>99 27>59 



INTR OD UCTION 



5 



land and Bengal. In density the two countries are as nearly- 
equal as can be (Table CXIII), but in Bengal 4.8 per cent, 
of the population is urban, and in England 61.7 per cent. 
(Tables XCI and CXII). 

The fact is, that in order to show the proximity of human 
habitations by density figures, the unit of territory must be 
too small for use in statistical studies. Only by means of 
maps and cartograms can the average density be made to 
portray the conditions of residence, considered with relation, 
not to the land, but to the people themselves. It is this fact, 
doubtless, that leads Professor Mayo-Smith in Statistics and 
Sociology to treat of density of population in the chapter on 
"Physical Environment;" of concentration of population 
in the chapter on " Social Environment." Density is far 
more dependent upon natural conditions than is agglomera- 
tion. 

But it must be admitted that the study of agglomeration 
by means of percentages of the total population dwelling in 
centres of a specified size offers some difficulties that are 
escaped when the comparison is limited to density. What, 
for instance, is the real significance of the terms " urban 
population," "rural population?" Does urban population 
include the dwellers in villages and small towns as well as 
those in cities? What is the line of division between urban 
and rural districts? 

In ancient times the distinction between urban and rural 
populations was easily drawn, because the term "urban" was 
suited only to the few large cities. There existed, indeed, 
smaller centres of population like our towns or villages, but 
these bore few or none of the characteristic marks of the 
city ; they were closely identified with the scattered popula- 
tion) which was devoted to agriculture. The development of 
the arts and sciences, the prosecution of industry, and politi- 
cal activity — all the social forces going to make up civiliza- 



5 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

tion — ^were phenomena of the great capitals like Memphis, 
Thebes, Nineveh, Babylon. In classic antiquity, indeed, the 
identification of city and civilization becomes complete ; the 
Greek republics were city states, and when Aristotle wishes 
to characterize man as a social or gregarious animal he says 
man is by nature a citizen of the city {■Kokiq^. The essential 
identification of the city with all the higher interests of 
humanity by the Greeks and Romans is to be observed at 
the present day in the English word "city" and "civiliza- 
tion," both of which are derived from the Latin *' civis." 
The tremendous influence of the classic city on the life of 
society has since been equaled by the mediaeval city re- 
publics in Italy (Venice, Florence, Genoa) and Germany 
(the Hansa towns and free imperial cities). Society then 
entered upon a new phase of development, and it is only 
with the prodigious growth of the great centres of population 
and industry in the last half of the present century that the 
city has come once more to have something like the dom- 
inating influence that it exercised in antiquity. 

The ancient city was a walled town and hence was easily 
distinguished from the surrounding rural districts. Similarly, 
in the middle ages the only places of collective residence 
were the enclosed towns which were absolutely cut off from 
the scattered population in the rest of the country. In such 
circumstances there could be but one distinction between 
city and country. This distinction, moreover, was recognized 
by the law, which by royal charter conferred certain privi- 
leges upon the towns as compared with the open country. 
The basis of the distinction was the pursuit of industry and 
commerce, /. e., the cities were manufacturing or market 
places. Hence it was that the difTerentiation of population 
into town and country came to signify a contrast between 
manufacturing industry and commerce on the one hand, and 
agriculture on the other, and this distinction was the one 



INTRODUCTION y 

made by scientific writers in Germany up to the most recent 
times. ^ In the eighteenth century the line between town and 
country was indeed a sharp one, and the opposition of their 
interests was clearly marked. The era of steam and machin- 
ery broke it down in England early in the present century, 
but on the Continent this influence has worked more slowly. 
An English writer in the middle of the century noted that 
the distinction was still sharp even in constitutional France 
and Belgium." Town and country manifested a spirit of 
hostility toward each other rather than a desire for friendly 
intercourse ; the cities maintained their walls, levied local 
taxes or duties {octroi) on goods brought in, and carried out 
a searching examination of every peasant's cart that was 
driven through the city's gate. The towns, with their special 
privileges, lived an isolated life and exerted little influence 
on the country population. Thus the movements following 
the February Revolution (1848) were confined to a few town 
populations like Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Frank- 
fort. The cities were the "oases of civilization;" "the 
people outside were in the same condition as they had been 
for ages." 3 

But in the last half-century all the agencies of modern 
civilization have worked together to abolish this rural isola- 
tion ; the cities have torn down their fortifications, which 
separated them from the open country ; while the railways, 
the newspaper press, freedom of migration and settlement, 

^Cf. Siissmilch, Die gottliche Ordnun^, Berlin, 1740; Wappaus, Allgemeine 
Bev'olkerungsstatistik, Leipzig, 1 861, vol. ii, who says that " it is rather the nature of 
the occupation and not the mere place of dwelling " that explains the difference 
in the vital statistics of city and country. 

* Laing's Observations on the State of the European People, 1848-9, p. 273. 

' It is worthy of note that this mediasval separation of town and country still 
exists in Sweden and Norway, where all places of collective residence are still 
called " cities," though some of them have fewer than 500 inhabitants. Wagner- 
Supan, Bevolkerun^ dtr Erde, ix, 50-51. 



3 • THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

etc., cause the spread of the ideas originating in the cities 
and Hft the people of the rural districts out of their state of 
mental stagnation. Industry is also carried on outside of 
the cities,^ so that the mediaeval distinction between town 
and country has lost its meaning in the advanced countries. 
In Hungary, which is a relatively backward country, there 
were in 1890 thirteen legal "cities" having less than 3,000 
inhabitants each, while 38 other places that had more than 
10,000 inhabitants each had not attained the dignity of 
"cities." The old distinction between town and country is 
still preserved in the Prussian statistics, and in the census of 
1895, 192 places of from 5,000 to 50,000 or more inhabi- 
tants with an aggregate population of 1,800,000 were in- 
cluded in the legal rural population.^ 

In the light of such facts, the absurdity of holding to the 
mediaeval classification of dwelling-centres long since became 
patent to statisticians, and they have been seeking some 
other method. That there is a difference in the conditions 
of life of a city-dweller and a farmer is very evident, but on 
what basis are we going to separate the two? Hitherto each 
governmental statistical bureau has framed its own definition. 
The Russian government in one of its official documents,^ 
affirms that " in Russia the urban population forms 12.8 per 
cent of the total, as compared with 29 per cent, in the United 
States." But the fact is not there noted that, in the Russian 
estimate, towns of 2,000+ are rated as urban, while in the 
United States only places of at least 8,000 are called urban. 
On the 2,000 basis the comparison would be 37.7 and 12.8 
per cent, on the 8,000 basis 29.2 and about 9 per cent. 

^ See especially the Englisli censuses, and Lommatzsch, Die Bewegung des 
Bevolkerungsstandes im K'dnigreich Sachsen, 14 ff., and Losch,'Z'»V Entwicklung 
der Bevolkerung Wiirtembergs von iSyi-iSgo, in fViirtt. yahrbuchfiir Stat, und 
Landeskunde, 1894. 

* See infra, ch. ii, sec. 4. 

' Th^ Industries of Russia (published for the Chicago Exposition), iii, 42. 



INTROD UCTION 



9 



One of the modern methods of distinguishing between 
dwelling-places is to divide the population into agglomerated 
and scattered. The agglomerated population includes all 
persons living in houses immediately contiguous to one 
another or separated only by parks, streets, etc., while the 
remainder of the population, generally speaking, is agricul- 
tural. But with the increasing density of population, ag- 
plomeration must naturally increase, and it becomes increas- 
ingly difficult to determine the distance which must separate 
houses in order to count their inhabitants in the " scattered " 
population. Italy and France have classified their popula- 
tions as agglomerated and scattered, with these results : 

France.^ Italy.* 

1872 60.7 1871 74.3 

1876 60.4 1881 72,7 

1881 60.1 

1886 61.0 

1891 60.5 

England expressed somewhat the same idea by giving the 
average distance between houses at various censuses, but 
has latterly abandoned the method. The mere fact of ag- 
glomeration, however, is probably less significant than some 
of the European statisticians would have us beheve, and it 
seems to attract less attention in the census bureau than it 
formerly did ; nor is it very important. One may well doubt 
if there exists any considerable difference between the rural 
population of France, parts of Germany and some other 
European countries, on the one hand, and the rural popula- 
tion of America on the other, that can be traced to the fact 
that in the one case peasants live in hamlets, and in the other 
case on their own farms; yet, in the former case, the per- 

^ Hisultats statistiqites du denombrement de i8gi, p. 61. 

* Rauchberg, Art. Bevolkerungswesen, in Conrad's Handwbh., ii, 431, 



10 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

centage of agglomerated population would be much larger 
than that of the latter. 

It is thus evident that agglomeration alone does not furnish 
a true means of distinguishing urban population from rural 
population according to the meaning attached to those terms 
in common parlance. An urban population must indeed be 
agglomerated ; but it must also exceed a certain number of 
inhabitants or it will remain practically rural in character. 
A German Dorf or village containing, say, 300 peasants, is 
just as properly called rural as an American township con- 
taining 300 farmers living perhaps half a mile apart. Thus 
it is that modern statisticians have agreed upon a numerical 
boundary line between city and country. Many objections 
to this conclusion can of course be raised. It is rightly said 
to ignore the individuality of communities. Here is a sub- 
urban village in close contact with a manufacturing city and 
possessing most of the characteristics of city life ; if its 
population does not reach the arbitrarily chosen number 
selected as the qualification for entrance to the urban 
group, it must be put in the rural class along with the ver- 
iest farming community. Here again is the townsman with 
a country residence ; he is in the country but not of it. 
Nevertheless he must be counted in the rural population. 
The young manufacturing place, a harbor, a thousand-year 
old village, a residence town, all places of the same size 
must be thrown into one class if we follow numerical distinc- 
tions. Then again, as population becomes more dense one 
naturally expects to find the average size of the town or 
village increasing; the town of 5,000 now plays the role in 
the formation of social judgments formerly taken by the 
village of 1,000. Hence the geographical statistician Supan 
favors a sliding line of division, varying in different countries 
with the density of population. In his Ortsstatistik he has 
included all places with over 1,000 inhabitants in thinly 



INTRODUCTION I j 

settled countries like Australia, all over 2,000 in countries 
with a somewhat denser population (United States, Russia, 
Peru, Greece and the Balkan countries), and in thickly- 
populated countries Hke most of the older European 
states only such places as have 5,000 or more inhabitants.* 
These objections to the numerical line between city and 
country, however, do not outweigh its advantages.^ For 
statistical purposes no other distinction is so available ; 
hence this distinction has been sanctioned both in theory 
and in practice. 

But no such agreement has been reached as regards the 
determination of the numerical boundary. It is not alto- 
gether easy to define the distinguishing characteristics of a 
city, but in a general way the student will observe that, 
when a community attains a certain size, new needs and 
purposes manifest themselves. The close association of a 
large body of people alters even the material conditions of 
life. The artesian well and cistern must give way to a 
common water supply brought from distant springs ; a 
sewerage system must be introduced, likewise street light- 
ing, and rapid transit between the home and the workshop. 
The liberty of the individual to do his own sweet pleasure 
must be curtailed for the common benefit ; the streets may 
not be used as depositories of materials for new buildings ; 
noises must be abated, such as music practice with open 

' Petermann's Mideilungett, Erganzungsheft, No. 107 : Die Bevolkerung der 
Erde, ix, Wagner und Supan. 

* Some statisticians still identify rural and agricultural populations. The States- 
man's Year Book (1897, p. 678), for example, takes such a position in the follow- 
ing: "In Northern Italy the population is scattered over the country, and there 
are few centres. In Southern Italy, and in the islands, the country people live in 
the towns, coming and going to cultivate their own plots of land; consequently 
there are many populous centres where, if numbers alone were considered, the 
population would be regarded as urban, though it is in truth almost exclusively 
rural." 



12 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

windows during the sleeping hours; nuisances are pro- 
hibited, and the like. In response to the new wants of the 
community, the framework of the local government under- 
goes alteration, the law itself recognizing the difference be- 
tween urban and rural populations. Not only are new wants 
to be satisfied,, but they must be satisfied by new methods. 
In the country village, where every citizen knows every 
other citizen, the town meeting, or primary assembly in its 
pure form, is the ideal governing body, but with every in- 
crease in the size of the town, representation must be given 
fuller play. Officials are multiplied by the score and hun- 
dred, and must be appointed rather than elected, since the 
voters are unable to inform themselves concerning the merits 
of so many candidates. 

In the United States, then, the law usually provides for 
three forms of local government : ( i ) for the township, the 
primary civil division, (2) for the village, the smallest 
agglomeration, whose charter of incorporation is granted by 
the administration in accordance with general laws, (3) the 
city, whose charter of incorporation is usually a special act 
of legislation. But as regards the requirements for these 
grades there is no uniformity of practice. In some of the 
Western States almost any town may aspire to the dignity 
of city. Thus North Dakota contained four places which in 
1890 severally had a larger population than 2,000 and all 
were "cities," namely, Bismarck, 2,186; Fargo, 5,664; 
Grand Forks, 4,979; Jamestown, 2,296.^ Kansas has no 
villages or towns ; every place sufficiently large to be in- 
corporated is dubbed "a city." Kingman county has 
three "cities" : Norwich with a population in 1890 of 301 ; 
Spivey 205, and Kingman 2,390." The climax of absur- 

^ Compendium of the iiih Census, vol. i, population by minor civil divisions. 
Pembina " city " with its three wards had a population of 670. 

* Op. ciL, i, 167. 



INTR OD UCTION 



13 



dity is reached in the case of the "city" of Mullinville, 
Kiowa county, with 79 inhabitants ! It is greatly to be re- 
gretted that the word " city " is thus degraded, for it is thus 
coming to lose its peculiar significance. In the East, how- 
ever, the meaning has been preserved and no one calls a 
place a "city" unless it possesses claims to the superior in- 
fluence that accompanies a large population. In Massa- 
chusetts, all communities and areas are under the town 
(township) government until they attain a population of 
12,000, when they are incorporated as cities; that is to 
say, the town meeting is then replaced with a repre- 
sentative legislature and executive. In New York, there 
is no rigid limit, but in practice a population of about 
10,000 is required for incorporation as a city. There 
arc now six cities in New York that had a popula- 
tion of 8,000-10,000 in 1892. But taking the United States 
as a whole, it must be admitted that the legal city is much 
less populous than the statistical unit (8,000), for there are 
1,623 incorporated cities in the United States, and only 448 
towns exceeding 8,000 population,'' 

In England, the municipality corresponding to our city is 
the borough; the term "city," when used at all, referring by 
tradition to a borough that happens to be the residence of 
a bishop. But for the exercise of the important and numer- 
ous functions connected with sanitation the country is 
divided into urban and rural sanitary districts. When the 
local government board finds an unusually high death-rate 
prevailing in a country district, it may by order create an 
urban sanitary district, which is endowed with greater powers 
in regard to the preservation of health. And it is the urban 
sanitary districts that contain the urban population of Eng- 
land. There are few districts with a smaller population than 

^ Gannett, The Building of a Nation, 32. 



14 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

3,000, but a large number under 10,000 and even under 
5,000/ 

In France, all communes are governed in accordance with 
the provisions of one municipal code, excepting only the 
cities of Paris and Lyons. The law thus makes no distinc- 
tion between urban and rural populations. 

In Germany and Austria-Hungary, as already observed, 
the law regarding municipal corporations has not developed 
in recent years and largely preserves mediaeval distinctions, 
with the result of producing anomalies. 

The conclusion is forced upon us that the legal definition 
of urban population lacks uniformity. The law-givers do 
indeed recognize a vital distinction between urban and rural 
populations, but they do not help us to draw the line. 
What, now, is the opinion of statistical scientists on the 
question? 

The disagreement is not so great here as in the preceding 
cases, for of late years the numerical boundary (2,000) 
chosen by France in 1846 has made its way through most 
of Continental Europe, and its adoption in 1887 by the In- 
ternational Institute of Statistics '^ makes it reasonably cer- 
tain that it will be the generally accepted line of division for 
many years to come. If we hold in mind the distinction 
commonly made in America between city and town, we shall 
see that the difference in the meaning attached to the word 
"urban" by European and American statisticians rests 
simply on this fact: that in America the "town" 3 is re- 
garded as rural and in Europe as urban. The question of 

' See further ch. ii, sec. 2, Introduction. 

' See Bulletin de Vlnstitut International de Statistique (1887), ii, 366. 

' In American usage generally, the town is something between village and 
city, a kind of inferior or incomplete city. The thing which the town lacks, as 
compared with the complete city, is ... . municipal government." Fiske, Civil 
Government in the United States, p. 103. But Fiske says the town is urban 
rather than rural. 



INTR OD UCTION 



15 



classification is always more or less of an empty one, but in 
determining the position of a town it may be well to note 
that the authority of one of the most eminent statisticians of 
this century is practically on the American side. Gustav 
Riimelin in discussing the Landstadt, which, like the Ameri- 
can town, occupies a middle position between the country 
and the great city, says that as a rule it has more of the 
characteristics of the Z>^r/" (hamlet or village) than of the 
Grossstadt (large city)/ 

And on consideration one must incline to the view that 
the peculiar marks of a city as described in a foregoing 
paragraph do not pertain to the village or town. The 
American legal practice of making broad the distinction be- 
tween village and city, rather than that between village and 
rural district, is the sound one. In England, too, the limit 
10,000 is important; boroughs containing not less than 
10,000 inhabitants may themselves regulate matters of local 
concern which in other cases are attended to by the county 
council.^ While, then, a population of 10,000, will in the 
comparative tables be accepted as the minimum limit of an 
urban agglomeration, in studying the several countries it will 
be convenient to follow the ofificial definition. Germany, in 
particular, does not recognize the line of 10,000, but divides 
the dwelling-centres into these four groups :3 

Landstadte 2,000-5,000 inhabitants 

Kleinstadte 5,000-20,000 " 

Mittelstadte . 20,000-100,000 " 

Grossstadte more than 100,000 " 

' Stadt und Land, in Reden und Aufsdtze, i, 352 : " Die kleine Landstadt liegt 
in der Kegel von der Grossstadt noch viel weiter als vom Dorf .... Die kleinen 
Stadte sind die Vermittlungskanale fiir den Wechselverkehr von Stadt und Land," 
etc. As will appear later on, the age distribution in the town differs considerably 
from that of the city; this fact, almost entirely a result of emigration or immigra- 
tion, is of vast importance in determining the social character of a community. 

' Goodnow, Comparative Administrative Law, i, 244. 

' For the basis of these distinctions, see Statistik des Deutscken Reichs, Neue 
Folge, Bd. 32, p. 29.* 



1 6 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

In order to avail ourselves of the best statistics it will 
therefore be necessary at times to regard as urban popula- 
tion all the inhabitants of places of 2,000 or more. 

As the foregoing table indicates, Germany divides the 
urban population into classes. The practice is a common 
one among official statisticians, but they seldom agree on 
the lines of division. In most cases 10,000 appears as one 
limit; France and Austria add 50,000, etc. But in nearly 
every instance, a separate class is made of cities that exceed 
100,000 souls in population. Such cities are rightly called 
great-cities {Grossstcidte, les grandes villes). They differ 
from smaller cities in that their influence extends not merely 
beyond their county, but beyond the commonwealth or 
province, becoming national or even international, Hence 
the grande ville has become recognized not only in the 
official statistics, and in the writings of savants, but also in 
the legislation of many modern states. The Institut Inter- 
national de Statisque made it the only sub-class in the 
urban portion of the population.^ 

The discussion on classification of population according 
to the size of dwelling-place may be summarized in the 
following manner : 

f Scattered. 

Rural Population. \ ^^ 

j I . Hamlets and villages (less than 2,000 pop.) . 

L 2. Towns (from 2,000 to 10,000 pop.). 

Urban Population. | 3- Cities (more than 10,000 pop.). 

I a. Great cities (more than 100,000 pop.). 

One point still calls for notice regarding the comparability 
of urban statistics, namely, the area that constitutes the 
urban unit. In American usage, outside of New England, 
it is the incorporated village or city within the township;' 

* Bulletin, ii, 366. 

^ " Township " is the common American name of the primary political division. 
But there are numerous variations, e. g., " parish " in Louisiana, " precinct " in 



INTRODUCTION 



17 



but in New England, where there are no other incorporated 
communities than the city, the township is the statistical 
unit. Obviously, this variation in practice destroys the 
comparability of urban statistics, since a township is large 
enough to contain several villages and a large number of 
scattered dwellings besides. The census returns should 
designate communities within the township. 

The percentage of error in such cases will of course vary 
directly with the extent of territory and inversely with the 
number of inhabitants. Given a large township, there still 
may not be a single community or dwelling-centre of 2,000 
population, although the entire township may contain 10,000 
people. This is indeed an extreme case, though it can 
doubtless be parallelled in the statistics of Spain, where the 
dwelling centres are never separately returned. In Italy, 
where both the agglomerated population, or inhabitants of 
communities, and the total communal or township popula- 
tion are returned, important differences are found. Brescia 
township contained, in 1881, 60,630 inhabitants; Brescia, 

Texas, " district " in Virginia, etc. In New England the term " town " is un- 
fortunately substituted for township. Historically, this latter usage is incorrect, 
as well as confusing. In primitive Anglo-Saxon times, " township " (tunscip) 
was, without much doubt, regularly used to designate the municipality in its en- 
tirety (i. e.f the whole area within the hedge or walls) ; and " town " (tun) 
meant the settled portion (Cf. W. F. Allen, "Town, Township and Tithing" in 
Essays and Monographs). In the course of time, however, the term "town" 
usurped the name " township," being applied to the whole area : and in this sig- 
nificance was brought to America by the Pilgrims. Consequently, in New Eng- 
land, the word means the entire municipality, while the settled portion is variously 
designated as the " village," the " middle of the town," etc. The use of the word 
" town " for " township," is, moreover, productive of confusion, because " town " 
is also frequently used to designate a dwelling-centre of a size intermediate be- 
tween the village and the city. On the other hand, the English use it constantly 
in the place of the word " city;" with them London is always a "town." But 
the American practice is far more logical and convenient and conforms more 
closely with historic usage; for " city " has always signified a town of high rank 
and dignity, as appears in the classic phrase, " free and imperial city." 



J 8 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

the community, 43,354. Chiari township, 10,414; Chiari, 
the town, 6,000.' The average area of the Italian township 
is 35.3 square kilometers, as compared with 54 for the 
Spanish township. In Servia, where the township is also 
large (38.2 sq. km.), the population in townships of more 
than 2,000 inhabitants constituted, in 1890, 36.5 per cent, of 
the population ; but the population in cities, towns and 
villages of 2,000+, only 13.25 per cent. In Germany where 
the Gemeinde (township) is very small,=^ the respective 
figures in 1890 were 47 and 42.5 per cent. France has a 
method of her own ; holding to the commune or township as 
the unit, she counts as urban communes only such as pos- 
sess an agglomerated population exceeding 2,000. Theo- 
retically, this is indefensible because it adds villages and 
isolated farmers to the urban population ; but it is better 
than the German or New England method of counting as 
urban those townships {Gemeinden) whose total population — 
without regard to the fact of agglomeration — exceeds the 
boundary limit adopted. This objection, however, has much 
less weight when the minimum limit of an urban commune 
is placed at 10,000, for against so large a number, the 
scattered population or even a hamlet or two counts rela- 
tively little. 

Finally, one has to consider whether the population of a 
single city, or of a number of cities, shall be employed as it 
is returned at each census, or whether the population dwell- 
ing on a given territory, thus diffusing over a long period 
the increase that actually comes by annexations. And in 
order to ascertain the growth of an urban population, shall 
we use the contemporaneous figures of each census, or settle 
upon a fixed number of cities for the whole series of cen- 
suses, thus discounting the effect of new cities arising from 

' Supan, 58. 

'Only 7 square kilometers; cf. table in ch. ii, sec 20, infra. 



INTR OD UC TION 



19 



the villages and towns? As will be pointed out in the 
course of the investigation, both methods have their advant- 
ages. For studying the gradual growth of urban population 
it is usually better to take a fixed territory and a definite 
number of cities and avoid accidental additions.^ But to 
compare the distribution of population at long intervals such 
refinement would be both superfluous and incorrect. The 
relative growth of different cities is one thing ; the concen- 
tration of population is another.^ 

As the first condition of an analytical study is, of course, 
an exact knowledge of facts, our plan will be to sketch the 
movement toward the concentration of population during 
the present century in the leading industrial states of the 
world and correlate the stages in this movement with in- 
dustrial changes ; then to present the statistics of other 
countries in less detail, and finally to bring the results 
together in comparative tables. Not till then may general 
causes be intelligently discussed. After that, some consid- 
eration will be given to the structure of city populations 
(their peculiarities as distinguished from the rural popula- 
tions), and the consequences of the movement from country 
to city. In conclusion, remedies will be discussed and some 
attempt made at forecasting the distribution of population in 
the near future. 

' The statistical difficulties raised by the adventitious extension of the munici- 
pality or the political city have been pointed out anew by Prof. E. J, James in a 
brief article upon " The Growth of Great Cities " in the Annals of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science (Jan., 1899), xiii, I seq. 

' On the question of method it will suffice to refer the reader to the bibliog- 
raphies appended to Sections 24-27 of G. von Mayr's BevolkerungsstatisHk 
(^Statistik und Geselhchaftslehre, vol. ii; Freiburg i B. 1897), ^^ addition to the 
references already given. 



CHAPTER II. 

HISTORY AND STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH. 
I. THE UNITED STATES. 

In a new country the rapid growth of cities is both natural 
and necessary, for no efficient industrial organization of a 
new settlement is possible without industrial centres to carry 
on the necessary work of assembling and distributing goods. 
A Mississippi Valley empire rising suddenly into being 
without its Chicago and its smaller centres of distribution is 
almost inconceivable to the nineteenth century economist. 
That America is the " land of mushroom cities" is therefore 
not at all surprising. 

But, on the other hand, it is astonishing that the develop- 
ment of the cities in a new country should outstrip that of 
the rural districts which they serve. The natural presump- 
tion would be that so long as land remains open to settle- 
ment, the superfluous population of the older States or of 
Europe would seek the fundamental, or food-producing, 
industry of agriculture, and build up cities only in a corres- 
ponding degree. Yet in the great cereal regions of the 
West, the cities have grown entirely out of proportion to the 
rural parts, resulting there, as in the East and in Europe, in 
an increasing concentration of the population. The only 
States ' where the urban population has in recent years pro- 
portionately diminished or remained stationary are Louis- 
iana, South Carolina, Vermont, Mississippi, and one or two 

* Cf. the historical diagram illustrating the proportion of urban to total popula- 
tion by States and Territories in the nth Cen., Pop., pt. i, p. Ixv. 

(20) 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 2 1 

others. These are the commonwealths where industry is 
less progressive and up-to-date than elsewhere ; the popula- 
tion is not economically organized, or there would be a 
more pronounced growth of centres of industry and 
commerce. 

In tracing the historical causes of the concentration of 
population in the United States, it is needful to remember 
that internal migration here has not been of one kind ex- 
clusively, as in Europe. We have not only the migration 
cityward, but also the migration westward. Hence in a 
period when the western movement is particularly strong, 
the growth of cities is likely to diminish relatively. 

The urban population is defined in the United States 
census reports as the population of cities or towns having at 
least 8,000 inhabitants. Table II, column 3, shows the 
growth of the urban populatipn from 210,873 persons resid- 
ing in six cities in 1800, to 18,284,385 inhabitants of 448 
cities in 1890. That is, the urban population has increased 
eighty-seven fold in the century, while the population of the 
entire country has increased only twelve-fold. In 1800 the 
city population of this country was grouped as follows : ^ 

PhUadelphia 69,403 

New York (county) 60,489 

Baltimore 26,114 

Boston 24,937 

Charleston 20,473 

Salem 9,457 

Total 210,873 

City life was practically unknown to the fathers of the 
Republic ; their largest city held a smaller population than 

1 Census 0/18^0, p. lii. These are the figures used in the summaries of subse- 
quent censuses. But in the table of cities, uth Cen. Pop., i, 371, the population 
of Philadelphia is given as 41,220. The population of Philadelphia county or the 
present city, was 81,009. 



22 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



<ii-wvdN"-<NdNdodt^ 

t^ ly^ fO lONO 00 VO ""l- fO ■^ 



rrj TJ-NO NO \r\>* tJ- lo ii On 
d dNOOONO •4m m" woo 
O rO N "1 "^00 NO lO •* u-> 



00 lO On li^NO i^NO "^ *> On 
f^i- OnOnCOm d i^t^'^' 

NO NO c<i Tj-NQ 00 NO ■^ fO ■«r 



nS. 



.S u ^ 

§• :, t« 



Total of 124 

cities. 

6. 

No. Pop. 


NO t>. u^ 1-1 voOO On fOOO 

ON PI 1-1 r>.NO N NO TTNO NO NO 

00 On "* N •^ « ir)NO_ N f^ "^ 
00 iH^ i-J" i-" •^ lO On •^nO 10 On 
i^ >-c t^ ti- t^ r^NO >-> r^ 00 
M ro tJ-nO On lOOO NO t^ "*00 
w pT t? no On <-0 

ON-<i-0 N « »00 "^0 •>1-'^ 
i-c ro ■* vovo t^ " <i N N 


Other cities of 

25,000+ in 

1890. 

No. Pop. 


rl-i-ii-iNOrOMOO t^OO 
-*■ u-i tJ- PJ "100 00 ■^ N 
00 00 •^ ■^ <^^„ *^ "^ <^ '^^ 
i-Troir^i-ri-i lorO'^frFo "" 
voo rOt^l^NOONO « ►1 Ox 
i-ii-itHCSTi-t^p40M;^ri, 
« hT pT ■«? 

r»1 lil On "1 PO PONO t^ P» NO NO 
1-1 N P) r^ ■^ "1 t^OO On On On 


The great 
cities of 1890. 

4- 
No. Pop. 


NO lONO 00 "100 POOO OnnO Q 
rr t^ !>. Tl" i-c rOOO NO PfJNO 

q_ Ojoo K? "1; *^ "^ '^^ "^ 
t^oo iocfNprdiioO>^"?r^ 

p) PONO rl-OO "INO On On 
■I P< P<1 ■>a- t^ i-c PTJOOnOnO^ 

i-T pT fo •<? NO cK 

NO On « t-00 P< Tj-OO 00 00 00 

l-tnMP)MPIP4P<P) 


Cities 8,000+. 

Per cent, of 
No. Pop. total pop. 

3- 


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STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



23 



Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1890, and but slightly larger 
than Atlanta. To-day it would rank forty-second among 
American cities. Not only have the cities increased in size 
and number, but they have absorbed a vastly larger propor- 
tion of the population. In 1790, out of 100 Americans only 
3.35 were city dwellers; in 1890, the percentage was 29.2. 

Table II also shows that this process of concentration has 
not been uniform in point of time. While the rural popula- 
tion has suffered a steady decline in the rate of increase 
from 35 per cent, in the decade 1800-10 to 15 per cent, in 
1860-70 arid 1880-90, the rate of growth of the urban 
population fluctuated enormously. In 1810-20 it was 33 
per cent.; in 1 840-50, 99 per cent, or three times as great. 
The causes of these fluctuations are to be sought in the 
economic conditions of the country. 

Before 1820 the phenomenon of concentration of popula- 
tion was not to be found in the United States as a whole. 
In Maryland and Massachusetts, indeed, the urban popula- 
tion was gaining slightly upon the rural population, but in 
the other commonwealths, including New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Rhode Island, where the largest proportions of urban 
residents were to be found, there was no such increase. In 
fact, the decade 1810-20 showed a relative decline of the 
cities in nearly all the States, and the urban population of 
the whole country held its own and no more. This was a 
consequence chiefly of the destruction wrought to American 
commerce by the War of 1812, the resulting stagnation of 
the commercial cities and a movement toward agricultural 
pursuits. 

But early in the next decade there opened the era of 
canals, followed closely by the era of railways, which not 
only built up great commercial centres, but stimulated the 
industrial cities by immensely extending their market. The 
rate of increase goes up from 33, the country's average in 



24 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

1 810-20, to 82, two and a half times the country's average 
in 1820-30. In order to indicate clearly the rate of increase 
of the urban population as compared with the general rate, 
the following table is presented.^ It is constructed from 
Table II by regarding the percentage rates of increase of the 
population of the United States as a standard, or 100, and 
calculating the ratio which the other decennial rates bear 
thereto; thus for the decade 1800-10, 35.10 is to 60 as 100 
is to 190, etc. 

Table III. 

Urban popu- 124 large cities Rural popu- 
lation, of 1890. lation. 

1800-10 100 190 140 91 

1810-20 100 100 no 99 

1820-30 100- 244 155 93 

1830-40 100 -■ 208 188 92 

1840-50 100 -- 276 226 84 

1850-60 100 213 171 85 

1860-70 100 - 261 207 66 

1870-80 . 100 134 129 90 

1880-90 100 V 246 196 60 

Whether one considers the total urban population with the 
annual additions to the number of cities, or the fixed number 
of cities, one finds the periods of maximum concentration, 
in order, to be 1840-50, 1860-70, and 1880-90, while 1870- 
80 and 1850-60 are in both cases minima. The connection 
with the country's industrial development may be traced out 
as follows : The immediate result of the opening of the Erie 
canal in 1821 was the rapid expansion of commercial centres 

^ The urban population increases by the growth of villages into towns and 
cities as well as by the increase of city populations, thus bringing in a possible 
factor of disturbance much like large annexations to a single city. In order to 
avoid violent fluctuations that might be caused by large additions to the number 
of cities at any particular census, the writer has summarized in Table II the popu- 
lation at each census of all the cities (124) which in 1890 contained not less than 
25,000 inhabitants, thus securing a comparatively fixed territory for the entire 
period. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



25 



in New York State. New York City started on its amazing 
development, and before 1830 had wrested from Philadelphia 
the position of metropolis of the New World. Buffalo and 
Rochester in the same decade passed from the village to the 
urban stage, soon to be followed by Syracuse, Rome, Utica 
and other towns along the route of the canal. Simultane- 
ously began the expansion of manufactures in the New Eng- 
land States, causing a considerable concentration of popula- 
tion there. In the following decade 1830-40, the work 
begun by the canals was continued by the railways ^ and the 
cities grew apace,^ attaining their maximum rate in 1840-50. 
Thus far the railways had been confined chiefly to the 
Eastern States, and by opening up large markets for Eastern 
manufactures had caused a concentration of population 
which appears in all the figures of Table II. But after 1850 
the railway system was extended into the West, where it 
became rather an instrument for the dispersion of population 
by permitting the settlement of the Western lands and furn- 
ishing an outlet for their products. It was in the decade of 
1850-60 that the Mississippi Valley was peopled ;3 and as 
this was an agricultural or rural movement, the urban popu- 
lation of the country increased less rapidly than in 1840-50. 

^The railway mileage in the United States (^iitk Cen., Trans., i, 6) was: 

1830 39.8 

1840 2,755.2 

1850 8,571.5 

i860 29,919.8 

1870 49.168.3 

1880 87,724.1 

1890 163,562.1 

' According to Table II, the urban population had a larger relative increase in 
1820-30 than in 1830-40. This may be due to a larger addition to the number 
of cities in the former period. Between 1820-30 the number of cities doubled; 
between 1830-40 they increased from 26 to 44. If only a definite number of 
cities be considered, the larger increase is in 1830-40 (Table III). 

' Cf . the Census Reports ; also the standard histories. 



26 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

But the next decade 1 860-70 showed another large urban 
increase, second only to that of 1840-50. This may be 
partly accounted for by the defects of the census of 1870, 
which admittedly left uncounted thousands of negroes be- 
longing to the rural population of the South ; but the chief 
explanation is the check imposed by the Civil War upon the 
settlement of the West, and the large numbers of the popu- 
lation that devoted themselves to manufactures during and 
following the war. The following table gives the rates of 
increase per cent, in the sections indicated:^ 

Table IV. 

North Central South Central Western 

States. States. States. 

1840-50 61.23 42.24 115.12 

1850-60 68.35 34-05 246.15 

1860-70 42.70 1 1-54 60.02 

1870-80 35-76 38.62 78.46 

1880-90 28.78 23.02 71-27 

This shows how the great movement toward settlement in 
1850-60 was followed by a slackening in 1860-70, and by a 
renewal of the migration westward in 1 870-80, this bringing 
about a large increase in the rural population and a corres- 
ponding decrease in the urban percentage of growth as ap- 
pears in Table III. The fact is even more distinctly brought 
into light by the following figures respecting the increase in 
the number of farms ^ and in cereal crops: 3 

Table V. 
Farms in United States. Production of Cereals. 

Increase Total bushels Increase Per 

percent. (000,000 omitted), percent, capita. 
1840 .. 616 .. 36.1 

1850 i,449»o73 •• 867 41 37,4 

i860 2,044,077 41 1,239 43 39-4 

1870 2,659,985 25 1,387 12 35.9 

1880 4,008,907 51 2,698 94 53.8 

1890 4.564.641 14 3.519 30 56-2 

^ nth Cen. Pop., i, 4, 5. * jjth Cen., Agr,, p. i. ^ Ibid., p. 6. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



27 



The remarkable increase of the agricultural population in 
1870-80, as set forth in this table, connected with the in- 
dustrial paralysis after the panic of 1873,^ fully explains 
why the urban growth was relatively smaller than it had 
been in any decade since 1820.'' 

In the latest decade, 1880-90, the development of the 
United States was industrial rather than agricultural, and 
the migration was cityward instead of westward. While the 
number of farms and the cereal production have increased 
but little, the manufacturing interests have prospered as 
never before. 

Table VI. 
Manufactures; Percentage of Increase.' 

Average number Net value of 

Capita . of employees. product. 

1850-60 89.38 37.01 84.1 1 

1860-70 67.80 56.64 63.31 

1870-80 64.10 3149 40.01 

1880-90 120.78 65.77 106.59 

It is thus clearly shown that the decade 1880-90 saw an 
exceptionally rapid development of the manufacturing in- 
dustries. The result is that the number of towns of 8,ooo-l- 
population rose from 286 to 448, an increase of 162, as com- 
pared with an increase of 60 in 1870-80; and the increase 

^ The principal manufacturing States, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, as well as Ohio, Maryland and other Eastern States, show a 
marked decrease in urban growth; and Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Utah, 
etc., show an actual decline in the urban population. 

* Nevertheless, it is probably true that the census of 1880 gives too small a num- 
ber for the urban population. In New England, where the local unit, the town- 
ship, includes a rural as well as urban population, the Tenth Census attempts to 
eliminate the rural population, whereas other censuses count the entire popula- 
tion of the Itownship as urban. In Massachusetts, the Tenth Census finds an 
urban population of r,042,039 in 2,2) cities; with the methods of the Eleventh 
Census there would be 36 towns with a population of 1,098,004. For all New 
England the difference would be about 100,000. 

* nth Cen., Mfs., i, 4. 



23 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

in the urban population very nearly reached the maximum 
of 1840-50. 

Considering the close connection thus far shown to exist 
between manufactures and concentration of population, one 
would expect to find the bulk of city-dwellers in the North, 
as is indeed the case:^ 

Table VII. 

Divisions. Urban population, 1890. Proportion in each division. 

North Atlantic 9,015.383 49-31 

South Atlantic i ,419,964 7.76 

North Central 5.793»896 31.69 

South Central 1,147,089 6.27 

Western 908,053 4.97 

Total 18,284,385 100.00 

One-half the entire urban population of the United States 
is in the North Atlantic States and four- fifths in the territory 
north of the Ohio and Missouri rivers,'' a fact of consider- 
able social, poHtical and economic significance, and one that 
will help to explain the results of election contests and legis- 
lative battles where the economic interests of different com- 
munities come into conflict. More than one-half of the 
urban population, again, is concentrated in five common- 
wealths, as follows : 

New York 3o99.877 

Pennsylvania 2,152,051 

Massachusetts i,564>93i 

Illinois 1,485,955 

Ohio 1,159,342 

Total 9,962,156 

Missouri, which ranks above Massachusetts in total popu- 
lation, has less than half the number of urban dwellers 

' ijth Cen., Pop., pt. i, p. Ixv. 

* Approximately but not absolutely true, as parts of Missouri and South Dakota 
and all of Kansas and Nebraska are south of the Missouri river. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 29 

(703,743), and in the present list follows after the little com- 
monwealth of New Jersey (780,912 urban population). 
After Missouri, Michigan is the only State that has more 
than half a million city dwellers, although California lacks 
very little (about 5,000) of reaching the mark. 

Thus far, the definition of urban population has been the 
one formulated by the census reports, the requirement being 
a population of 8,000. If, however, the line be drawn 
higher, the Eastern States will have a still larger proportion 
of the urban population ; and vice versa. But the difference 
is not so great as might be expected. 

Table VIII.i 

Percentage of population in the specified divisions for places 

Over 8,000 to 4,000 to 2,500 to 1,000 to Total over 
25,000. 25,000. 8,000. 4,000. 2,500. 1,000. 



North Atlantic 


51.03 


43.70 


44.15 


39.23 


38.04 


46.61 


South Atlantic . . 


7.68 


8.05 


5-34 


9.20 


6.9s 


7-53 


North Central . . 


30.38 


35-95 


37.80 


34.80 


37.96 


33.32 


South Central . . 


5-9° 


7.48 


7.64 


10.43 


II. 14 


7-34 


Western 


5.01 
100. 


4.82 


5-07 


6.34 


5-91 


5.20 


United States 


100. 


ICO. 


100. 


100. 


100. 



It appears from this table that the North Atlantic States 
have, in their urban population, a large proportion of the 
great-city dwellers and fewer villagers. The Western States 
are about equally represented in all the groups, while the re- 
maining commonwealths are much stronger in villages and 
small towns than in large cities. The contrast between the 
North Atlantic and the North Central States is noteworthy, 
as the two sections contain the bulk of the urban population. 
In the North Atlantic States the urban population is essen- 
tially of the large-city type, and in the North Central States 
of the town or small-city type.- 

^ Censtts Bulletin, No. 165. 

* These facts are made the basis of an interesting study of the " Distribution of 
our Urban Population," which appeared in the American Statistical Association's 



20 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

While the eastern and northern States contain the vast 
majority of the townsmen of the country, it does not follow 
that they contain the greatest proportionate number of city 
dwellers. On the contrary, the large urban population of 
the Mississippi Valley is counterbalanced by a large rural 
population, while the Western States have a comparatively 
small rural population. The result is that in the Western 
States a larger percentage of the people dwell in cities than 
do the people of the North Central States, as will be seen in 
the following table:' 

Table X. 
Percentage of population residing in towns of 

io,ooo+. 8,ooo + . i,ooo + . 

North Atlantic division 48.68 51.58 70.0 

South " " 15.05 16.04 22.2 

North Central " 24.59 25.90 38.9 

South " " 9-82 10.45 1 7-5 

Western " 29.71 29.74 44.8 

United States 27.59 29.20 41.69 

It is somewhat surprising thus to find so large a propor- 
tionate number of town-dwellers in the far West, as com- 
pared with the middle West. The probable explanation is 

Publications (Iv, 11 3-6), and showed how the large percentages of urban popu- 
lation in the East are due to the presence of great cities. New York and New 
Jersey afford a striking contrast, as do Missouri and Indiana. In the one case, 
the vast majority of the urban population is found in the commercial centres of 
New York City and St. Louis, while in the second case the urban population is 
scattered in manufacturing towns : 

Table IX. 
Percentage of total population 

New York. New Jersey. Missouri. Indiana. 

In all places of 1,000-+- ... 68.79 64.58 36.69 32.12 

" places of 1,000-25,000 .. 16.21 21.66 12.86 21.98 

" " " 25,000-100,000. 7.37 19.06 1.99 5.30 

" « " 1 00,000 -|- 45.20 23.86 21.82 4.84 

"^ nth Cen., Soc. Stat, of Cities, pp. i, 2; Pop., pt. i, p. Ixv; Census Bulletin, 
No. 165, pp. 2, 3. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 31 

the difference in the physical features of the two regions. 
While in the central States agriculture is the staple industry 
and is prosecuted by small farmers, in the Pacific States 
commerce brings men together in towns, and agriculture does 
not call for a dense population, as it is carried on so largely 
on large estates or ranches ; the average size of a .farm in 
the Western States, according to the census of 1890, being 
324 acres as compared with 133 acres in the North Central 
States and 144 acres in the South Central States. 

The following table arranges the States and Territories by 
groups according to the proportion of their population 
living in cities of 10,000 and upward : ^ 

Table XI. 

CLASS I. MORE THAN ONE-HALF URBAN. 

1. District of Columbia 88.10 

2. Massachusetts 65.88 

3. Rhode Island 57-91 

4. New York 57-66 

5. New Jersey 5°'9* 

CLASS II- MORE THAN ONE-QUARTER URBAN. 

6. Maryland 43-87 

7. Connecticut 41.86 

8. California 40-98 

9. Pennsylvania 39'^° 

10. Illinois 38.08 

11. Colorado 37-07 

12. Delaware 36-46 

13. Ohio 30-15 

14. Utah 28.73 

15. Washington 28.27 

16. Minnesota 27.69 

UNITED STATES 27.59 

17. Missouri 25.59 

CLASS III. MORE THAN ONE-TENTH URBAN. 

18. New Hampshire 24-7^ 

19. Michigan 23.90 

1 iiih Cen., Stat, of Cities, pp. i, 2. 



32 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

20. Louisiana 23.65 

21. Wisconsin 22.46 

22. Nebraska 22.15 

23. Wyoming - 19.26 

24. Montana 18.58 

25. Oregon 18.14 

26. Maine 17.16 

27. Indiana 16.68 

28. Kentucky 13.87 

29. Iowa 13.62 

30. Virginia 1 2.85 

31. Florida 12.02 

32. Tennessee 10.65 

CLASS IV, LESS THAN ONE-TENTH URBAN. 

33. Georgia 9.91 

34. Kansas 9.73 

35. Texas 9.71 

36. Vermont 7.93 

37. South Carolina 6.1 1 

38. West Virginia 5.85 

39. Alabama 5.23 

40. North Carolina 3.37 

41. Arkansas 3.30 

42. South Dakota 3.10 

43. Mississippi ' 2.64 

CLASS V. NO URBAN POPULATION. 

44. North Dakota. 

45. Idaho. 

46. Nevada. 

47. Arizona. 

48. New Mexico. 

49. Oklahoma. 

50. Indian Territory. 

The cartogram prepared by Dr. Billings, the census agent, 
to illustrate these figures emphasizes one or two facts of ex- 
ceptional interest. First, all the Northern States {i. e. the 
North Atlantic and North Central States together with 
Deleware and Maryland) have more than 15 per cent, of 
urban population, except the Dakotas, Kansas, Iowa, and 
Vermont. The Dakotas are recently settled agricultural 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



33 



States and cannot be expected to have cities ; Kansas is in 
the cattle raising belt, with Texas and Oklahoma ; Vermont 
has no sea-board and no manufacturing centres, and so falls 
below Maine and New Hampshire ; but the position of Iowa 
is peculiar. Iowa stands in a position of isolation in the 
Middle West; Minnesota has 27.7 per cent, urban popula- 
tion, Missouri 25.6, Illinois 38.1, Wisconsin 22.5 and 
Nebraska 22.15, but Iowa has only 13.62 per cent. The 
Iowa people believe that the growth of their cities has been 
checked by railway discriminations which have favored 
Chicago, St. Paul, St. Louis and Omaha, as against their 
own commercial centres, and this is indeed the only adequate 
explanation. 

Among the Southern States, on the other hand, Louisiana 
(23.65 per cent.) stands in isolation, for it is the only com- 
monwealth whose urban population exceeds fifteen per cent. 
It is commerce rather than manufacturing that explains 
this, for Georgia is far more of a manufacturing State than 
Louisiana. The presence of a great commercial centre, 
New Orleans, is what gives Louisiana its prominence. 

The Western States seem to go to extremes. Four of 
these are in the second group, and three in the third, while 
the remainder are in the fifth. None of them are in the 
fourth group, which is almost entirely Southern. The second 
group, it may be noticed, contains six States west and six 
States east of the Mississippi ; but the Western States (except 
California and Colorado) fall in the second half of the group, 
while most of the Eastern States are in the first half. The 
striking feature is that California should out-rank Pennsyl- 
vania. The commercial importance of San Francisco, fruit- 
growing and agriculture carried on in large estates, must be 
regarded as the causes of the high proportion of Californians 
who live in cities. 

It was earlier shown that the historical tendency in the 



34 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



distribution of population in the United States is for an ever- 
increasing proportion of the people to dwell in towns. A 
question of considerable importance is whether the tendency 
is toward great or small cities. The only careful investiga- 
tion of this question is a paper by Mr. Carl Boyd in the 
Publications of the American Statistical Association.^ His 
classification of the cities rests upon the mean population of 
1880 and 1890; thus Milwaukee, which had a population 
of 204,468 in 1890, is not included in the class of 200,000 
and upwards because its population in 1880 was 115,587 and 
the mean would be 160,000, The result of the analysis is 
as follows : 

Table XII. 

Percentage increase of 
No. of Cities. population, 1880-90. 

200,000 or more 12 36.87 

60,000-200,000 28 63.07 

30,000-60,000 40 52.45 

17,000-30,000 81 53-72 

11,000-17,000 93 53.74 

8,000-11,000 102 47'30 

356 

This apparently demonstrates that the great cities of 
America are growing less rapidly than the smaller ones. 
But the evidence is inconclusive, for the class of cities 
200,000 and upwards happens to include the cities of the 
settled East where population is increasing less rapidly than 
in the West; only two of the 12 cities in this group (St. 
Louis and San Francisco) are west of the Mississippi. On 
the other hand the second group, which shows the largest 
increase of all, includes the most rapidly growing cities of 
the new West; Minneapolis with an increase of 251 per 
cent; Omaha, 360 per cent; St. Paul 221 per cent; Kansas 
City 138 per cent; Denver 200 per cent; etc. The only 

^ " Growth of Cities in the United States during the Decade 1880-90," iii, 416^. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 35 

inference to be drawn from these figures is that in an era of 
rapid colonization the growth of new centres of distribution 
may overshadow the development of the older commercial 
centres. We are still left in doubt as to the relative growth 
of large and small cities in settled communities. It is un- 
fortunate that the American census authorities do not emu- 
late the European ofificial statisticians in making useful 
tabulations of the facts they gather ; it is too much to ask of 
the individual investigator to classify the cities and compute 
their population for all the censuses. In Table II, however, 
the 124 cities of 25,000+ in 1890 have been divided into two 
classes, the line being drawn at 100,000, and the aggregate 
population of the four principal cities has also been com- 
puted. A comparison of the rates of growth of the three 
groups with the rate for the United States entire is as fol- 
lows, the latter rate being represented as 100 as in Table III : 

Table XIII. 

New York, Chicago, Phila- Cities of 100,000+ Cities 25,000-100,000 

delphia and Brooklyn. in 1890. in 1890. 

1800-10 130 169 84 

1810-20 80 120 80 

1820-30 145 148 175 

1830-40 165 195 173 

1840-50 200 227 238 

1850-60 186 170 173 

1860-70 143 194 228 

1870-80 117 125 137 

1880-90 173 180 236 

In only three of the nine decades (1800-10, 1810-20, 
1830-40) did the great cities grow as rapidly as the middle- 
sized cities, while the four great centres were distanced in 
every decade except 1850-60. Since 1840, at least, it 
would appear as if there had been no movement toward 
centralization, such as exists in France with its one great 
metropolis ever distancing the other cities in growth. But 



36 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



some individual cities do, nevertheless, exert something of 
the power of attraction possessed by Paris. Take for 
example the cities of New York State. In 1890 there were 
13 of 25,000 or more inhabitants; three of which, New 
York, Booklyn and Long Island City, belong to the metro- 
poHs. The population of these three cities in 1890 was 3.8 
times as great as in 1850; the population of the other ten 
cities 3.6 times as great, thus indicating the more rapid 
growth of New York city than the interior cities, some of 
which, however, notably Buffalo and Yonkers, outstripped 
New York. But Yonkers is itself a New York suburb, and 
if we were to add the parts of industrial New York that lie 
in New Jersey, we should find that the metropolis heads the 
list. While our evidence is by no means conclusive, it points 
to the inference that New York like Paris, grows at a more 
rapid rate than the smaller cities in the settled parts of the 
country. Of course. New York has been outdone by the 
commercial centres of the new West, and will continue to be 
outdone by them until their dependent territory is in a 
measure filled up. 

The great difficulty in the statistical method here lies in 
its failure to take account of the great city's growth outside 
its own boundaries. The movement toward the suburbs, 
which is stronger in America than elsewhere with the excep- 
tion of Australia, not only necessitates frequent annexations 
of territory, but even then baffles the statistician. This may 
be illustrated by studying historically the distribution of 
population in Massachusetts. And first as to annexations. 

In 1890 Massachusetts contained sixteen cities whose 
population individually exceeded 25,000. Computing their 
aggregate population at each census and calculating the 
rates of increase, the following result is reached:' 

^ nth Cen. Pop., i, 370-3. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH ^y 









Table XIV. 






Decennial rates of increase 




Proportionate 


RATES OF INCREASE. 














Boston. 


t 




Mass. 


16 cities. 


Boston. 


Mass. 16 cities. 


a. 


*. 


i8co-io.. 


..11.63 


27.8 


33-24 


100 238 


283 


344 


1810-20. . 


..10.83 


^S'9 


30.22 


100 147 


280 


250 


1820-30.. 


..16.68 


55.6 


41-79 


100 332 


250 


228 


1830-40.. 


..20.85 


55-7 


52.11 


100 268 


250 


240 


1840-50.. 


..34.81 


63-9 


46.58 


100 183 


134 


149 


1850-60.. 


..23.79 


33-0 


29.92 


100 139 


126 


147 


1860-70.. 


..18.38 


39.6 


40.87 


100 215 


222 


98 


1870-80.. 


••22.35 


42.1 


44-83 


100 189 


201 


107 


1880-90.. 


••2S^57 


32.9 


23.60 


ICO 129 


92 


90 



The historical changes in the rate are not difficult of ex- 
planation. The impetus to city growth in 1820-30 was 
given by the cotton trade; Lowell was founded in 1826 and 
appears in the census of 1830 with a population of 6,474. 
The high rate of increase of the sixteen cities in 1840-50 is 
without doubt due to the fact that Lawrence, Somerville and 
Holyoke appeared for the first time in the census of 1850, 
completing the list. Since then the rate, especially as com- 
pared with the average for Massachusetts, has steadily de- 
clined. But this is also true of Boston, so that one feels 
warranted in drawing the conclusion that the abnormal 
growth of cities is a matter of the past rather than the 
future. This inference would seem to be more strongly 
justified, moreover, when one considers the rate of increase 
for the Boston of to-day, as given in the last column of the 
table. Here the disturbing influence of the annexations of 
1 867-1 873 =" have been removed and it is now seen not only 

' Column a corresponds to the rates given above, and is based on the popula- 
tion of Boston as returned at each census; column 6 is based on the population, 
at each census, of the present area of Boston, thus including all annexed territory. 

*The annexed districts with population at federal census of 1870 were : 

1867, Roxbury 34.753 

1869, Dorchester 12,261 

1873, West Roxbury 8,686 

1873, Brighton 4.967 

1873, Charlestown 28,323 

Cf. Census of Mass., 1895, J. 221. 



38 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

that Boston's proportionate rate of growth has been dimin- 
ishing throughout the century, but that, since 1820, it has 
fallen below that of the sixteen cities, and in 1860-70 and 
1880-90 below the average of Massachusetts. 

But all such calculations are upset by the lack of agree- 
ment between the urban centre proper (the economic city) 
and the legal city or municipality of the time being. The 
recent State census of Massachusetts shows that the most 
rapidly growing towns are the suburbs of Boston. As 
follows was the percentage increase of population in 
1885-95/ the suburban cities being indicated thus* : 

♦Everett 218.85 

*Malden 81.07 

*Somerville 74- 1 7 

Fitchburg 7i'77 

"'Quincy 70*54 

New Bedford 65.46 

*Medford 60.08 

Brockton 59-58 

Fall River 56.85 

North Adams 52.59 

Massachusetts 28.73 

Boston 27.29 

" (^within 8 miles of the State House) 37'i9 

«« «« 12 " " " " " 37-26 

All incorporated cities (32) 38-05 

Rural remainder I4-I5 

While, therefore, the capital city with its environs is con- 
tinuing to absorb the population of the state, so that to-day 
the " Greater Boston " contains 39.4 per cent.^ of the popu- 
lation of Massachusetts as against 5.9 percent, in the Boston 
of 1800 and 13.7 per cent, in the Boston of 1850, its relative 

' Census of i8g^, i, 46-9. The list includes all cities whose rate of increase in 
the decade exceeded 50 per cent. 

*The so-called Metropolitan district includes virtually all towns within a radius 
of ten miles of the State house. With a twelve-mile radius, the percentage in 
Boston would be 40.17. Cf. op. cit., i, 47. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



39 



growth is less rapid than it was during the first half of the 
century. The proportion 28.75 : 37.26=100: ;tr yields 130, 
whereas the proportionate rate did not fall below 147 until 
1870. 

But even at this rate the cities would gain upon the popu- 
lation of the country at large, and one may look for still 
more profound changes in the distribution of population 
than those indicated in the following table, which is based on 
Table XVI : 

Table XV. 
Percentage of population of the United States residing in specified cities in the years: 

1800. 1850. 1890. 

loOjOOO-f o 6.0 15.5 

20,000-100,000 3.8 3.8 8.3 

10,000-20,000 O 2.2 3.8 

Total 10,000+ 3.8 12.0 27.6 

The present indications are that before 1910 one-half of 
the American people will be residents of cities of 8,000, 
This condition would be reached about 1920 if the rate of 
concentration from 1820 to 1890 should prevail; in about 
191 5 if the rate of 1850-90 should be maintained ; and soon 
after 1905 if the rate of the most recent decade, 1880-90. 

Changes in the position of the different commonwealths 
with reference to the proportion of urban population may be 
expected. Concentration began in Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maryland.' The era of rail- 
ways with the accompanying expansion of commerce on the 
one hand and of the iron industry on the other, caused a 
rapid growth of cities in New York and Pennsylvania. In 
1830 and again in i860. New York and Massachusetts had 
an equal proportion of urban population ; but now Massa- 
chusetts has a percentage of 70 per cent, of its population 
in towns of 8,000+ and New York 60 per cent. New Jersey 

^ Cf. Diagram in nth Cm., Pop., pt. i, p. Ixv. 



4.0 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



and Connecticut are overtaking New York, as a result of the 
development of small manufacturing cities. Both passed 
Maryland and Pennsylvania in the decade 1860-70, when 
the war gave life to so many machine industries. Illinois, 
now the ninth State on the census chart showing proportion 
of urban to total population, betrays the most uniform and 
consistent increase of any of the States. With the continual 
development of manufactures in Illinois and the continued 
growth of Chicago, there can be no doubt that by 1900 
Illinois will have passed Pennsylvania, California and Mary- 
land and have taken place close after New Jersey and Con- 
necticut. 

A summary of the urban statistics of the United States is 
given in 







Table XVI. 










1800. 




1850. 




1890. 


Classes of cities. 


No. 


Population. 


No. 


Population. 


No. 


Population. 


100,000-1- 


.. 





6 


1.393.338 


28 


9,697,960 


20,000-100,000. 


5 


201,416 


24 


878,342 


137 


5,202,007 


10,000-20,000. . 


5 




36 
66 


495,190 
2,766,870 


180 

345 


2,380,110 


Total io,ooo-1-. 


201,416 


17,280,077 


" 2,000 -f. 









. 18% est. 


1,916 


23.593.605 



Authorities. 

For 1800, see p. 21. 

For 1850, the Census of 1850, p. Hi and full tables. To the 22 cities of 20,000-100,000 in the 
lists on p. Hi are added Allegheny City (21,262) and Chicago (29,963). Only 27 cities of the third 
group are given in the lists of principal cities (p. Hi), their aggregate population being 372,584; 
to this number may be added Manchester, N. H., New Bedford and Charlestown, Mass., Nor- 
wich, Conn., Oswego, N. Y., New Brunswick, N. J., Norfolk and Petersburg, Va., and Lafayette, 
Ind., whose population was found in the tables for the separate States. The estimate of towns of 
2,000+ is derived from a comparison of Tucker {Progress of the United States, 132), who givei 
the total for 1840 (2,321,527, or 13.6 per cent, of the total population) with the census figures of 
1840 and i860 for towns of 8,000+. 

For 1890, the Census Report on Social Statistics of Cities, p. 1, gives the total of cities 
xo,ooo+. The population of towns of 2,000+ is derived from Census Bulletin, "Ho. 165, and 
the other totals are summaries from the Report on Population, pt. i, pages 370-3. 

II. THE UNITED KINGDOM. 

§1. England and Wales. — From many points of view, 
England offers superior advantages for the study of the dis- 
tribution of population and the causes affecting the same. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



41 



England was the pioneer in the modern industrial move- 
ment and is even now the typical industrial country. For 
while the aggregate output of machine or factory-made pro- 
ducts in the United States exceeds that of England, it does 
not constitute so large a proportion of the entire national 
product. A smaller percentage of Englishmen and Scotch- 
men are devoted to agricultural pursuits than of any other 
nation of the world. The latter being the only workers who 
are of necessity resident in scattered habitations, it will be 
worth while to ascertain under what conditions the remainder 
of the population has dwelt. 

Unfortunately, the English statistics present serious diffi- 
culties to the classification of dwelling-centres. This is 
chiefly the fault of the historical English method of local 
government, distributing the various functions to a variety 
of independent authorities over different areas and thus pro- 
ducing a chaos of boundaries and officials. In 1871, the 
938^ dwelling-centres which were taken to represent the 
urban population of England and Wales were thus classified : 
Municipal boroughs, comprising cities and towns to which 
charters of incorporation had been granted and were later 
governed by the Municipal Corporations Reform Act, 224; 
local board districts established either under the Public 
Health Act of 1 848 or under the Local Government Act of 
1858, 721 (including 146 municipal boroughs); places 
which had improvement, paving, lighting or other commis- 
sions under (special) Local Acts, 88 (including 37 municipal 
boroughs); other "towns" of some 21,000 population, 96. 
But these " towns " not under a regular municipal authority 
had no recognized boundaries, and " the Superintendent 
Registrar of the District in each case distinguished the houses 
which in his opinion might properly be considered within 
the limits of the town." 

^ Or 946, if London be counted in its parts instead of a unit. 



42 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Such was the condition of affairs in 187 1. In the earlier 
censuses there were still fewer places which had definite and 
recognized boundaries ; such being the boroughs alone. 
But a borough might be either municipal or parliamentary. 
And sometimes there was a vast difference between the 
limits of the two ; for example, Wolverhampton, the munici- 
pal borough, had a population of 49,985 in 185 1, but a 
population of 119,748 dwelt within its parliamentary- 
boundaries. All of which tended to confuse the statistician. 

In 1872, however, legislation simplified matters consider- 
ably. By the Public Health Act of 1 872 ', it was enacted 
that all municipal boroughs, local board districts and towns 
with improvement commissions, should henceforth be termed 
" urban sanitary districts," and to these authorities were 
transferred all the powers and duties previously exercised by 
any other authority in the districts under the provisions of 
acts relating to local government, the utilization of sewage, 
the removal of nuisances, the regulation of common lodging 
houses, baths and wash houses and the prevention of disease. 
These powers connected with sanitation, which have since 
been augmented, are so important and, in fact, so essential 
a part of city government, that the English urban sanitary 
district may well be considered the typical urban com- 
munity. To the original urban sanitary districts of 1872, 
others have been added from year to year, being carved out 
of the great area comprised in the rural sanitary districts as 
rapidly as an agglomeration of people becomes of sufficient 
magnitude to require urban sanitary regulations. The num- 
ber of urban sanitary districts in the Census of 1891 was 
1,011, of which only 194 had less than 3,000 inhabitants. 
Their aggregate population constituted 71.7 per cent, of the 
entire population of England and Wales; only 1.3 per cent. 

^ 35 and 36 Vict., cap. 79. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



43 



of the population dwelt in urban districts smaller than 
3,000.^ 

With these explanations, the following summary table is 
put forward to show the degree in which the population was 
concentrated at the different periods in the present century : 

Table XVII. 
1801. 1851. 1891. 

Classes of cities. No. Population. No. Population. No. Population. 

Over 20,000 15 1,506,176 63 6,265,011 185 15,563,834 

10,000-20,000 .... 31 389,624 60 800,000 175 2,362,376 

5,000-10,000 60 418,715 140 963,000 262 1,837,054 

Total 5,0004- •• 106 2,314,515 263 8,028,011 622 19,763,264 
" vinder 5,000. ... 6,578,021 ... 9,899,598 ... 9,239,261 

Grand total 8,892,536 ...17,927,609 ... 29,002,525 

Sources. 
The population of cities of 20,000 and upwards is derived from Table XVIII, where the sources 
are named. For the smaller cities and towns, the data were derived as follows: 

For 1801, a list of cities and towns containing upwards of 5,000 inhabitants in the Annual 
Register for 1801, pp. 171-3. A compilation from the data in the Census of 1841 (Introductory 
Volume, p. 10) gives approximately equal results, e. g., 46 cities of 10,000 with total population 
of 1,882,667 in the Annual Register. 

For 1851, only the aggregate urban and rural populations are given in the census volume (I, p. 
xlvi, Table XXIII). The summaries of cities above 20,000 are exact, and are based on table 42 
(p. cxxvi of the iB^i Census, vol. I); of the smaller cities they are only approximately correct 
(Table VII, p. ccivff). 

For 1891, Census o/iSqi, iv, 10, General Report. The numbers relate to urban sanitary dis- 
tricts, and the administrative county of London is reckoned as one district. 

In the ninety years covered by the table, over twenty 
millions of people were added to the population of England 
and Wales ; but while the rural inhabitants (those dwelling 
in places of less than 5,000) increased from 6,600,000 to 
9,200,000, the town-dwellers increased from 2,300,000 to 
19,800,000. That is, of the total increase of twenty millions, 
about 17,400,000, or 80 per cent., fell to the towns and 
cities. It is, moreover, noticeable that the increase of the 
rural population took place entirely in the first half of 
the century, and later turned into an actual decrease. Some 
800,000 more people are classed as belonging to the rural 

' That some rural sanitary districts contain a population of 50,000 or more 
signifies nothing, since this is a scattered population contained within a large area. 



44 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



population in 185 1 than in 1891 ; so that while in some 
countries much is said of a rapid growth of cities, causing 
the rural population to suffer a relative decline, in England 
there is a decrease in the absolute numbers of the rural in- 
habitants. The decline began in 1 861, as may be seen in the 
following percentages of decennial increase or decrease cal- 
culated from the figures of Table XVIII : 

Urban. Rural. 

1851-61 21.9 -f-1.88 

1861-71 28.1 —5.86 

1871-81 25.6 — 3.84 

1881-91 18.5 — 2.76 

It does not follow from this that there has been a rural 
depopulation in England in the strict sense of the term; for 
the aggregate rural population of a country may diminish 
either as a result of emigration or as the result of the growth 
of hamlets and villages into towns and cities. The increase 
in the mere number of cities is remarkable. In 1891 Eng- 
land and Wales contained 360 urban sanitary districts, or 
towns, of 10,000 and more inhabitants; in 1881 there were 
123 ; in 1 801, 45, and in 1377, with a population nearly one- 
fourth as great as that of 1801, only two cities, London with 
almost 35,000 inhabitants and York with about 11,000. 
Nine towns are believed to have had a population of 5,000 
or more, and 18 a population of not less than 3,000^ in lieu 
of the present number of 817 in a population about fourteen 
times as large. In 1377 the population of these 18 towns, 
formed eight per cent, of the entire population^. In 1688 
the towns, according to Gregory Kings, contained one- 

^ Based on an enumeration for the poll tax. For the list of cities, see Jas. 
Lowe, The Present State of England, London, 1822, appendix, p. 74. Cf. also 
the economic histories. 

*The ratio of urban to rural population was as i : 12,34. — Rogers, Six Cen- 
turies of Work and Wages, 129. 

* National and Political Observations upon the State and Condition of England, 
36. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



45 



fourth of the population. But such estimates are extremely 
crude, as appears from Arthur Young's observation in 1770 
that half the population was urban ^ ; whereas Table XVII 
shows that not more than one-third of the population could 
properly be called urban even in 1801. 

The question of rural depopulation in England has been 
frequently discussed by the English statisticians and will not 
be entered into here, at any length, since this paper is con- 
cerned with the relative increase or decrease of the country 
as compared with the city. Dr. Ogle's investigation' 
covered the seventeen registration counties in which more 
than ten per cent, of the population were devoted to agri- 
cultural pursuits, with the exception of the two mining 
counties of Cornwall and Shropshire. Defining as the rural 
population the inhabitants of all districts in these counties 
except urban sanitary districts of 10,000 and upwards, he 
found that it aggregated 2,381,104 in 1851 and 2,358,303 in 
1 88 1. The loss is scarcely perceptible. And even if the 
rural population be restricted to sanitary districts of less 
than 5, 000, it shows a decrease of only 2.1 per cent, in the 
entire period. 

There are fifteen English counties which reached their 
maximum population in 1841 or at some other census prior 
to 1 89 1. Their aggregate loss from the year of maximum 
to 1891 is 133,600, and of this loss 46,570 or over one- 
third is found in Cornwall, where the cause is not agricul- 
tural depression, but failure of the tin mines.3 All this does 
not imply a rural depopulation, which connotes a great 

1 Travels in France (2d ed.), i, 480. Cf. Toynbee's criticism, Industrial Rev- 
olution (Humboldt ed.), p. 37, foot-note 3. 

* Ogle, " The Alleged Depopulation of the Rural Districts," in Jour, of Stat. 
Soc. (1889), 52 : 205/: Cf. also Longstaff, loc. cit. (1893), 56 : 380, and Census 
of jSgr, iv, 12 (^Parliamentary Papers, 1893, cvi). 

» Cf. Longstaff, Studies in Statistics, ch. v, where similar results are given for 
the census of 188 1. 



46 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 






Q O -^ . O 

M " -^ ■* Ti- 



\0 vO ^ t^OO On '^^O 0\ "^ 

cT •<? O^ •^ t^vd" cT ■>? cT 
0\^0 OOii-iM'Oi-'t^O 

00 M ooq_q;q\q_t^o;q^ 
od"""""'""" 



Aggregate 
rural pop- 
ulation. 










. O ^ M «^ " 
. O N VO 0\ N 

• c» M 00^ r;- q_ 

• mo r- m O 

• On I-" ^ ro 1- 

• 00 cfvOO 00 00 


Aggregate urban 

population. 

Towns. Population. 










• OsOO rl->J3 Tl- 

• O On O S" O 

• 00_ OS 'JnO vo 

■ cT 0^ i-To lo 

. 0\vD Tf ro On 
, On 0\ O ^ 00_ 

• 00 O ■<? tj^ O 
, ■ O « 00 t^" 

; 00 00 covo 11 

, , »^ t^ ON On O 
• • n 



vOGvOOfOiNOO — •* 
t^OOOONO w NnO O fO 
ii_ -^ N 00^ NO O^^ O; "^00 

no' di <S^o'od in t^ ro m m 
O fOOO NO O NO nO -^ u^nO 

i-T hI" cT ro ■<»• no" t^ On fT to 



i-i Q <^ -rt >J-t -^00 N NO o 

fO t^ Tf N Tj- M ITNOO P) NO 

fO m ^^ *^ ^ ^ '-^ ''2°^ 

i-Toio'foio'^eri-r-ifoN 

■«*■"" t^o Onn mr^ij-)0 

nOnOOO c^no NnOnO l^ro 

i-T i-T cT pT ro ■<?no 



T^ O m M i-i ionO m no 
00 ron •<!l-mr^o N IT) 
■^ rn rn On to O t^OO 00^ 

cT fo i-T onoo i-T tC •^ ii" 

►H ONONfor^i UNO pj 

N fo t^ o ^ c|^\o^oo^ q^ 

i-T i-T eT pf fo lo 



lONO "^ n NO NO ON O rf 00 

■^ •* On Tt- r^ rooo no to w 

00 tONO ON NO PI 0\ P) fO >- 

T?0\to>^r^prpO^-^Pr 
NO O P) r~»r-~0 O to fO m 

00 o PI '^00 '^•^ ^°^ ^ 

i-Ti-rt-ri-rprprrornTf 



»> O " w_l| 

* mOO-S C 

V c c " V 

S o o ?fo 



„-.S .j3 a 
" u E ? S 
^■S'S 1^ 2 S 



u 2 o-B.ai->^ « s S S "> 
u CJ3 o « s y 5 «'r5_, a 



j=n3_oJ'«cW5Ma 
« „ <<2 5j^.§ ° X S 

! - a . " ."^ c_ « >< u 



_e a-" n C.2 °^ o-g •- 
■g 3 M a ,„-, 






T3 u u « 2 0.-9-= 2-5 o S 



n^TS a 

M T-1 u u 11 ci o.-^ -tv :i -a o lu 



" C n ui O " >>J3 -- Co a 



! 6". 

3 U 



|<a'i rt «.a-S 5 3 
a>- n.S'^ ^<_ ■"•S-- C^ 

•5 3 "•OJi (!i u°° '^S !>^ 

a S "u *^ M-s o^i— *^ "* I 

■a^.S|^£S|i2S-5,d 

-a a^°° §3 « " » g-- 2 
a • iS M "'B o-c " - 2 o S 

^■a g a B-g a o a^ ^.ojs 
^ ° 2 2^ o c^5 g'f-S o 

-.2 „ a " cS «, a 3-3 o..a 
S nJ='~' CO 0)3.5 E a« 4j . 

ali ^^uo S a-g (1.-5 «.a 

S Sfoo o -a 2 •_ « Mf. 2 
a*^LH^rt^ -O-Q^-Ma 

4; C ^* .. "* ^ . fli 1> C3 4J cS 

*-• CO S rn ^* '♦ja 3 t^ 

(Xn fi.S a ♦^ o o 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



47 



scarcity of farm labor. Nevertheless, it is somewhat start- 
ling to read in the preliminary census report of 1891 (p. vi) 
that in the preceding decade there was a decline of popu- 
lation in 271 out of the 632 registration districts in England 
and Wales; and that in 202 of the 271 there had also been 
a decHne in the decade 1 871-81. And even Dr. Ogle 
admits that hard times, the use of labor-saving machinery 
and the conversion of arable into pasture land have caused 
the farmers to reduce their labor force. 

But the decrease of the rural population in England is less 
significant than the great urban increase already indicated 
in Table XVII and set forth in greater detail in Table XVIII. 
Looking at the movement of population as a whole it is seen 
what a considerable change in the conditions of life has 
taken place during the century. The population of cities of 
20,000 or more inhabitants has multiplied tenfold, while the 
remainder of the population has not quite doubled. A table 
of percentages will present the facts embodied in Table 
XVIII more graphically : 









Table XIX 










Percentage of population of England and 


Wales in 






London. 


Other great Cities 20,- 


All cities 


Urban 


Rural 






cities. 


000-100,000. 


20,000 + . 


districts. 


districts 


1801... 


9-73 


0. 


7.21 


16.94 







I8II... 


9-93 


2.08 


6.10 


18.II 








I82I... 


10.20 


3-27 


7-35 


20.82 








I83I... 


10.64 


5-71 


8.70 


25-05 







I84I . . . 


"•75 


6.52 


10.63 


28.90 


. .. 




I85I... 


13.18 


9.40 


12.42 


35-00 


50.08 


49.92 


I86I... 


»3-97 


11.02 


13.22 


38.21 


54.60 


44.40 


I87I... 


14-33 


11.50 


16.20 


42.00 


61.80 


38.20 


I88I... 


14.69 


14.91 


18.40 


48.00 


67.90 


32.10 


I89I... 


14.52 


17-30 


21.76 


53-58' 


72.05 


27.95 



In 185 1 the urban population constituted 50 per cent, of 
the whole; in 1891, 72 per cent. This increase, moreover, 
was not in the smaller cities, since the cities of 20,000 and 



48 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



over account for 18.5 of the 22 per cent, increase. The in- 
crease has not been divided equally among the three classes 
of cities over 20,000 shown in the table, for London has 
gained only 1.34 per cent, while the other " great cities " 
have gained 7.9 per cent, and the middle-sized cities 9.34 
per cent. London, fn fact, grew no more rapidly than the 
small cities, i. e. those having between 2,000 and 20,000 in- 
habitants. While, then, there has been a concentration of 
population in cities of at least 20,000 population, it is not a 
form of concentration carried to the extreme ; for London's 
population is barely holding its own in the general growth 
of population, and is dropping behind the population of 
provincial and middle-sized cities. These latter cities are 
indeed constantly recruited from the next lower order of 
cities, but even when such manner of growth is excluded and 
the comparison confined to a fixed number of towns, it will 
not be found that population is concentrating in one great 
metropoUs very rapidly. An English statistician, Mr. R. 
Price Williams, has, happily, summarized the population in 
a certain number of towns at each census from 1801 to 1871, 
using, in nearly all cases, the same territorial limits. While 
many considerable cities of 1871 were mere villages in 1801, 
and therefore a part of the rural population, for present pur- 
poses this fact may be neglected. Taking the rate of in- 
crease as given in Mr. Williams's brilliant paper in the 
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society^, and comparing 
them with the rate of increase for the entire country as the 
average or standard (100), the following interesting results 
are obtained : 

>Vol. xliii (1880), 462-496. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



49 



Table XX. 

Proportionate Decennial Increase. 

Other All cities of Total Total Pop. of Eng- 

London. great ao,ooo+ exc. Small urban rural land and 
cities. London. towns, population, population. Wales. 

180I-II ... 131 150 140 91 122 84 100 

181I-2I ... 117 163 147 105 126 81 100 

1821-31 ... 126 239 190 95 143 66 100 
1831-41 ... 122 202 182 86 138 67 100 

1841-51 ... 167 209 195 82 158 46 100 

185I-61 ... 157 172 165 61 137 61 100 

1861-7I ... 121 131 152 83 132 64 100 

Explanations. 

London — the registration district. 

" Other great cities " — the 16 cities which, in addition to London, had over 100,000 inhabitants 
in 1871. 

" Small towns " — places which contained, in 1871, a population of 2,000-20,000. 

Urban population — the population at the various censuses of all towns with 2,000 or more in- 
habitants in 1871. 

Rural population — the remainder. 

Some of these figures agree with the calculations of Sir Rawson W. Rawson in the J. of Stat. 
5c£-.,43:soo. 

It will be noticed that the urban population of Mr. Wil- 
liams's calculations has uniformily exceeded in its rate of 
increase the average of the entire country ; while the rural 
population, being the complement of the urban population 
in the general total, has of course fallen below the average. 
The smaller towns, it is worth noting, have also grown less 
rapidly than the population of England and Wales in its 
entirety, except in the single decade 1811-21. The 98 
cities other than London which had a population in excess 
of 20,000 in 1 87 1, have far outstripped the small towns and 
rural districts ; but even their rapid growth is inferior to the 
expansion of the sixteen " great cities," in every decade ex- 
cept the last. There is therefore a regular progression in 
the rate of growth, beginning with the villages and scattered 
population in the country districts and proceeding through 
the several classes of towns to the largest cities. 

LevasseurS observing a similar phenomenon in France, 
formulated the law that " the force of attraction in human 

1 Following Legoyt, Cf. La France et V Stranger (1865), pp. 50, 262, etc. 



so 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



groups, like that of matter, is in general proportionate to the 
mass."' If London be classed with the other English cities 
cff 100,000, Levasseur's rule will hold good for England. 
But London's population is properly a class by itself and is 
so treated in the tables. London might be expected to 
grow more rapidly than the provincial cities, just as Paris 
does. But such is not the case in a single decade of the 
century. Moreover, in the last decade represented by Mr. 
Williams's figures, the great cities were outstripped by the 
middle-sized cities. This tendency has become even more 
manifest in the subsequent periods, as appears in the follow- 
ing table ^ for 188 1-9 1 : 

Table XXI. 

Urban Sanitary Districts. 

Mean percentage of in- 
Population. No. crease of population. 

London i 10.4 

250,000-600,000 5 7.2 

100,000-250,000 18 19.9 

50,000-100,000 38 22.8 

20,000-50,000 123 22.1 

10,000-20,000 17s 18.9 

5,000-10,000 262 1 1.5 

3,000-5,000 ^95 ^'^ 

Under 3,000 194 3.6 

Total urban 1,01 1 15.4 

«• rural 3.0 

It thus appears that the largest growth is in the cities of 
from 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, with the classes 100,000 
to 250,000 and 10,000-20,000 in close company. The urban 
districts under 3,000 have gained little more than the rural 
districts and the small towns (3,000-10,000) and the six 
great cities have increased less than the general population. 
That the villages should be falling behind is not surprising, 

* La population franfaise, ii, 355. 
' Census ofjSgi, iv, 10. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



51 



but it at first seems strange that the very largest cities 
should manifest so slow a growth, The six cities are : 

Increase or decrease per cent 

London 10.4 

Liverpool — 6.2^ 

Manchester 9.3 

Birmingham 9.4 

Leeds 18.9 

Sheffield 14.0 

Leeds and Sheffield alone rise above the general rate 
(11.65) fo'' England, while Liverpool has actually lost! 
Yet nobody believes that Liverpool is decaying ; the expla- 
nation of the matter is simple enough : the growing business 
of the city requires the transformation of dwellings into 
stores and the dispossessed persons move away from the 
centre of business. As there is little more room within the 
municipal limits most of these people live in the environs, 
but are no longer counted in Liverpool.^ This process is 
going on in nearly all the great cities, as will appear later. 
But as it is comparatively recent that such cities as London 
have reached "the point of saturation," it does not affect 
the conclusion that in England the largest urban aggrega- 
tion has exerted a weaker power of attraction than the class 
of " great cities." The concentration of population has not 
been carried to its utmost point in the England of the nine- 
teenth century. 

There now arises the question of the causes that in- 
fluenced the distribution of population in England and 
Wales in the direction shown by the preceding analysis. 
The tables of Mr. Price Williams 3 show that the maximum 
urban increase was in 181 1-2 1 ; but this was balanced by a 

^ Decrease. 

" Cf . E. Cannan, " Growth of Manchester and Liverpool " in Economit Jour- 
nalfiv, 111-114. 

' y. of St. Soe., 43 : 462, seq. 



52 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



similarly large increase in the rural districts, so that the con- 
centration was not so great then as later. Table XIX shows 
that the entire period 1821 to 185 1 was a period of concen- 
tration in cities, and in this period the two decades 182 1-3 1 
and 1 841-5 1 are especially marked. The earlier decade saw 
the rise of the sixteen "great cities;" the second decade, 
the expansion of London. 

The charts accompanying the article of Price Williams 
already referred to clearly show that most of the great 
English cities attained their maximum rate of growth in 
1 82 1-3 1, which was in some cases phenomenal. Brighton's 
increase, for example, was 69.7 per cent., Bradford's 65.5, 
Salford's 55.9, Leeds's 47.3, Liverpool's 45.8, Manchester's 
44.9, Birmingham's 41.5, Sheffield's 40.5. Thus eight of the 
twelve^ "great cities" of 1871 owe their largest decennial 
increase to the causes at work in 1 821 -31. With the ex- 
ception of Bristol, all the eight cities are in the manufactur- 
ing district in the North ; and Bristol is a port in an adjacent 
county. It may therefore be conjectured that the period 
was marked by a great expansion of the manufacturing in- 
dustries ; and it was indeed at this time that the cotton trade 
began to assume large dimensions. The number of pounds 
of cotton imported'' was in — 

1781 5.198,775 

1785 18,400,384 

1792 34,907,497 

1813 51,000,000 

1832 287,800,000 

1841 489,900,000 

"Though 1800 marks the beginning of a continuous ex- 
pansion in both cotton and woollen manufactures, it was not 
until about 1817, when the new motor had established itself 

^ The four other cities were Hull, Nottingham, London, and its suburb West 
Ham. 

* Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, 60. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



53 



generally in the large centers of industry and the energy of 
the nation was called back to the arts of peace that the new 
forces began fully to manifest their power."' It must there- 
fore be clear to every mind that the decade under discussion 
( 1 821-31) presents in England a typical instance of the 
effect which the growth of manufactures and the develop- 
ment of the factory system, or system of centralized industry, 
has upon the distribution of population.^ 

The marked concentration of population in 182 1-3 1 was, 
then, produced by the industrial changes affecting the cities 
of northern England. In the succeeding decade the concen- 
tration continued, at a somewhat diminished rate, under the 
same influences. But in 1 841-51 was reached the most 
notable period of concentration in the century. Table XX 
shows that London's rate of increase reached its maximum 
at this time, but that alone does not fully account for the 
effect. A more detailed analysis, as follows, shows that the 

^ Hobson, op. cit., 64. 

' The influence of the above-mentioned forces on the movement of population 
in a small area may be studied with profit in Lancashire, the seat of the cotton 
trade. Price Williams {loc. cit., p. 476^) gives these figures : 







Table XXII. 








Decennial Increase 


OF Population in 








Rural 


Urban 


Small towns. 


Large towns. 




Lancashire. 


districts. 


districts. 


(2,000-20,000.) 


(20,000+.) 


I80I-II. 


.. 23.02 


20.44 


25.07 


19.40 


26.37 


I8II-2I. 


.. 27.09 


20.20 


32.37 


25.44 


33-08 


1821-31 . 


.. 26.97 


13.29 


36.46 


19.44 


39-95 


I83I-4I • 


.. 24.70 


12.51 


31-73 


19.07 


33-94 


1841-51. 


.. 21.84 


12.67 


26.37 


14.35 


28.23 


I85I-6I. 


.. 19.61 


20.46 


19.23 


20.77 


19.01 


I86I-7I. 


. . 16.06 


14.86 


16.58 


19.91 


16.12 



The noteveorthy feature of Lancashire's growth is the concentration of popula- 
tion in the large cities which was going on throughout the period 1 801-51, and 
especially in the decade 1821-31, when the great expansion of the textile industry 
took place. 



54 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



middle-sized cities were even more influential in their action 
on the general result : 

Average Eng. Other great 82 cities Towns 2,000- Total 

and Wales. London, cities (ioo,ooo-f )• 20,000-100,000. 20,000. urbaji. 

1821-31 .... 100 126 239 150 95 143 

184I-51 .... 100 167 209 182 82 158 

The counties in which the urban population {i. e., cities of 
20,000 and upwards) increased most in 1841-51 are as 
follows : 

Per cent. 

Monmouth 78.7 

Bedford 65.0 

Chester 48.8 

Glamorgan 45.3 

Lincoln 44.7 

Average of the 82 cities 23.2 

As to the influences on the growth of the city population 
of Monmouth and Glamorgan counties there can be no 
doubt. Glamorganshire contains the great coal-fields and 
iron-mines of South Wales, and it was the iron industry that 
built up its three largest cities, Merthyr Tydvil, Cardiff, 
Swansea, and the iron-smelting seat Newport in Monmouth. 
It is to be regretted that the development of the iron in- 
dustry in the North cannot also be traced ; but the iron de- 
posits and the smelting-centres there are mainly in York- 
shire and Lancashire, where the other factors of previously 
established manufactures complicate the study. 

Outside the iron districts the cities that showed the 
highest rates of increase in this period were ports. Thus in 
Lincolnshire, the growth was mainly in Grimsby, a rival of 
Hull ^ ; Cheshire's high rate is due almost wholly to Birken- 
head, a port on the Mersey opposite Liverpool. Of the ten 

^ Chisholm (^Handbook of Commercial Geography), speaking of Hull, says that 
"since the introduction of railways it has had a growing rival in Grimsby." 
(P-231.; 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



55 



cities that grew most rapidly in 1 841-51, seven were 
seaports.^ 

Now commercial statistics show that English trade ex- 
perienced a very considerable impetus about this time ^, and 
the stimulus came from the opening of railways, which was 
of course accompanied by a great expansion of the iron 
industry. The first railroad, the Liverpool and Manchester 
line built by George Stephenson, was opened in September 
1830. Its effect on the distribution of population was not 
immediate, owing to the slowness with the system was de- 
veloped. But by 1840 the United Kingdom possessed 800 
miles of railways, and construction was then going on so 
rapidly that by 1850 the number of miles had risen to 

1 Birkenhead (port), Hanley in Staffordshire, Torquay (p), Grimsby (p), 
Cardiff (p), Newport (p), Southport (p), Luton in Bedfordshire, Hythe (p), 
Merthyr Tydvil. Bradford is excluded as being one of the sixteen " great cities." 

''The following are the statistics of imports and exports in million pounds 
sterling : 

Imports. Exports. 

1785 14.27 13.66 

1795 20.10 22.23 

1810 39.30 43-57 

1825 44-21 56.32 

1830 46.30 69.70 

1835 49-03 91-16 

1840 67.49 116.48 

1845 85-30 150-88 

1850 100.47 197-31 

1855 123.60 116.70 

i860 210.53 164.52 

These figures are not to be depended on absolutely; and in 1854 the method 
of valuation was changed, which probably had some effect. Up to 1800 the data 
refer to Great Britain; thereafter to the United Kingdom. But making allow- 
ance for all uncertainties, it would still appear that a great expansion of trade be- 
gan about 1835-40. Between 1835 ^°^ ^850 the imports doubled in value, and 
the exports more than doubled; and this was in a period of falling prices. The 
repeal of the Com Laws and adoption of a free trade policy in 1846, favored a 
larger foreign trade.. 



56 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

6,600.^ The census of 185 1 is therefore the first one to show 
the effects of the new transportation methods on the distri- 
bution of population. Contemporaneously with the begin- 
nings of railway enterprise occurred the establishment of the 
iron industry, the leading events of which were the substitu- 
tion of hot for cold blast in 1829 and the adoption of raw 
coal in place of coke in 1833^, so that it was not much 
before 1840 that the production of iron assumed large di- 
mensions.3 

The conclusion is therefore unavoidable that it was the 
opening of railways, with the concomitant development of 
the iron industry, and expansion of domestic and foreign 
commerce under free trade, which occasioned the great con- 
centration of population in the decade 1 841 -51, in the sea- 
ports and iron producing districts. This explains why 
London, Wolverhampton and Portsmouth, alone of the 
seventeen great cities attained a higher rate of growth in 
1 84 1 -5 1 than in 1 821-31. Wolverhampton was a centre of 
the StafTordshire iron manufacturing district, and the three 
other cities were great seaports. It has already been shown 
that the middle-sized cities whose growth contributed so 
much to the high degree cf concentration in 1 841-51 were 
either seaports or iron-centrcc. 

^ Hobson, op. cit., 82. * Ibid., 65. 

* The following are the statistics of the pig iron production in Great Britain and 
Ireland : 

1790 68,000 Tons 

1800 158,000 " 

1810 305,000 « 

1820 400,000 " 

1830 700,000 " 

1840 1,396,000 " 

1850 • 2,250,000 " 

i860 3,827,000 " 

*The Census of 1831 classified 212 cities, and computed their rate of growth 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 57 

Since 185 1 the process of concentration has sensibly 
diminished. As already indicated, this is due in part to the 
overflow of municipal boundaries in the greater cities where 
a small area was already filled. This movement and the 
growth of small suburban towns account for the recent 
tendency of city-growth to center in the smaller cities. Cf. 
Table XXI. 

§2. Scotland. — Like England and Wales, Scotland is pre- 
eminently a manufacturing and commercial country. A 
mountainous country, with comparatively little arable land, 
Scotland could not maintain its population with the products 
of its own soil, and, as in the case of England, the agricul- 
tural population attained its maximum number some years 
ago, in 1 86 1, as appears from Table XXIV. 

Since then the entire addition to the number of inhabi- 
tants, amounting to the number of one million souls, has 
found shelter in the towns, where by pursuing commerce or 
industry it obtains the wealth needed to import food-pro- 
ducts for its own sustenance. The rural population has lost 
some 50,000 persons since 1861 and indeed is now fairly 
equal to the number in 185 1, the earliest year for which we 
have an official classification of the people into urban (towns 
of 2,000-f-) and rural populations. But the tendency toward 
concentration may be perceived at a much earlier date; 

during the half century 1801-51. It is interesting to note that the highest rate 
was that of the watering places, as appears below {op. cit., vol. i, p, xlix) : 

Table XXIII. 

No. Class. Increase per cent., 1801-51. 

15 Watering places 254.1 

51 Manufacturing places 224.2 

28 Mining and hardware places 217.3 

26 Seaports (exc. London) 195-6 

I London 146.4 

99 County towns (exc. London) 122.1 

212 Cities 176.1 



58 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



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t^1<S>So5-£a«"f 

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ii 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



59 



Table XXIV indeed shows that whereas the population in 
towns of 10,000+ doubled in the forty years 1851-91, it 
nearly tripled in the forty years 181 1-5 1. And there was a 
long period in which the statisticians of the British govern- 
ment announced in each census that the " tendency toward 
agglomeration in towns is even stronger in Scotland than in 
England." This appears to be true, however, only of the 
larger cities and especially of Glasgow, as appears from 
the following comparisons : 

Table XXV. 

Percentage of i>opuIation constituted by : 1801. 1851. i8gi. 

(a) the cities of 10,000+. 

England 21.3 39.5 61.7 

Scotland 1 7.0 32.2 49.9 

(b) the towns of 2,000+. 

England 50.1 72.1 

Scotland 51.8 65.4 

(c) the metropolis of 

England 9.7 13,2 14.5 

Scotland 5.1 11.5 19.4 

From (b) it is clear that since the middle of the century 
the tendency toward concentration has been far less pro- 
nounced in Scotland than in England; indeed, in 1851 
Scotland had a relatively larger urban population than Eng- 
land, but by 1 89 1 there was a considerable difference in 
England's favor. The preceding comparison (a) shows that 
between 1801 and 185 1 the process of concentration went 
forward at an equal rate in the two countries ; it is even pos- 
sible that Scotland's increase is here made to appear too 
small as a result of the necessity of counting in the popula- 
tion of an entire parish, or township, in 1801, when only 
the agglomeration should be reckoned. This would make 
17 per cent, an unduly large percentage for 1801. 

But when the comparison is turned toward London and 
Glasgow (c), it is easy to realize why the statisticians so 



6o THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

often spoke of the " stronger tendency of the Scotch people 
toward agglomeration in large towns." lu 1801 the English 
metropolis coutained nearly one-tenth of the population of 
England and Wales ; the Scotch metropolis little more than 
one-twentieth of the population of Scotland. In 185 1 the 
two were on almost equal footing, and in 1861 Glasgow had 
taken the lead in the movement toward concentration, so 
that in 1891 it counted for considerably more in Scotland, 
in point of numbers, than London did in England. 

The explanation of Glasgow's exceptional growth lies in 
the extent and variety of its natural resources. It occupies 
the position of a great commercial centre like London ; it 
has a climate peculiarly favorable to the textile industry 
like Manchester; and it is situated in the midst of a great 
coal and iron district like Birmingham. The city's growth 
in numbers is shown in the following table, which also in- 
cludes the aggregate population of the seven next largest 
cities (Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Leith, Paisley, 
Greenock and Perth; Govan, a suburb of Glasgow, being 
excluded) : 

Table XXVI. 

Glasgow. Seven Cities. 

Parliamentary. City and Suburbs. Ratio to pop- Percent- 

Popula- Percentage Popula- Percentage ulation of Popula- age in- 

tion. increase. tion. increase. Scotland. tion. crease. 

1801 77.058 .... 81,048 .... 5.1 194,428 .... 

1811 103,224 34 108,788 34.2 6.0 231,965 19.3 

1821 140,432 36 147,043 35-2 7'0 290,316 as.l 

1831 193,030 37.6 202,426 37.7 8.6 356,981 23.0 

1841 261,004 35.2 274,533 3S.6 10.0 396.930 i3t.a 

1851 329,097 26 344,986 25.7 ii.s 450,601 13.5 

1861 394,864 20 436,432 23.6 14.2 480,725 6.7 

1871 477,156 20.8 547,538 25.5 16.3 579,315 20.S 

1881 487,985 2.3 674,09s 23.1 18.3 680,097 17-4 

1891 564,981 15-7 782,445 16.1 19.4 763,012 i2.a 

Sources. — Census of Great Britain, jBsj, vol. i, p. cxxvii, and tables of Section II, for 
1801-51; for 1861-1881, the Parliamentary Return 0/18S3, op. cit.; Census of Scotland, i8<)l , 

172. The population of suburban Glasgow as given here for 1891 is based on the area assumed 
by the census in i88r. The parliamentary limits serve for the seven cities throughout. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 6 1 

In the earlier half of the century Glasgow's rate of growth 
closely agrees with Lancashire's (Table XXII supra) ^ both 
being due to the development of the cotton trade after 1817. 
But since 1841, Glasgow has felt the influence of a vast ex- 
pansion of the iron industry % and of commerce also ^, so 
that the falling off in the rate of increase is much less marked 
than it is in the case of Lancashire. Indeed, when com- 
pared with the rate of increase for the entire country, whose 
population began to be seriously diminished by the emigra- 
tion in 18503, Glasgow is shown to have exercised greater 
powers of attraction in 1851-61 than in any other decade. 
This is brought out in the following table, constructed on the 
same lines with Table XX, so as to permit of comparison 
with the English cities : 

' The production of pig iron in Scotland, according to the Encyclopoedia Britan- 
nica, Art, " Scotland," was as follows : 

1796 18,640 tons 

1830 37.500 " 

1840 241,000 " 

1845 475.000 " 

1865 1,164,000 " 

1870 1,206,000 " (Maximum) 

1884 988,000 " 

In 1859 Scotland produced one-third of the entire British output. The in- 
fluence of railway building may be noted here as in the case of England. 

' According to the same article, the total exports and imports of Scotland 
amounted to about eleven million pounds sterling in 1825, fourteen million in 
1 85 1, and fifty million in 1874. 

* Before 1850, the number of Scotch immigrants to the United States did not, 
in any single decade, reach 4,000 (in 1841-50 it was 3,712); but in 1851-60, the 
number leaped to 38,331. 



62 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 







Table XXVII. 






Decennial increase per 




Proportionate Decennial Increase 




cent. 


of the popula- 


Scot- 


Seven 


Glasgow, in- 


The eig 


tion of Scotland. 


land. 


cities. 


cluding suburbs. 


cities.' 


1801-II .. 


. .. 12.27 


100 


158 


278 


191 


181I-2I .. 


.. 15.82 


100 


158 


222 


180 


182I-31 .. 


,.. 13.04 


100 


176 


289 


211 


1831-41 .. 


.. 10.82 


100 


103 


329 


181 


I 841-5 I .. 


. .. 10.25 


100 


132 


249 


181 


1851-61 .. 


. . . 6.00 


100 


112 


340 


205 


1861-71 .. 


. . . 9.72 


100 


ill 


263 


212 


1871-81 .. 


... II. 18 


100 


148 


207 


170 


1881-91 .. 


... 7.77 


100 


157 


208 


167 



Of the eight cities here considered, only four (Glasgow, 
Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen) have a population in 
excess of 100,000. But the others exceed 60,000 except 
Perth (30,000). The influence of Glasgow on the aggregate 
is seen particularly in the decade 1 851-61. The maximum 
in 1861-71 is to be explained by the vast increase of com- 
merce consequent upon the annihilation of the American 
carrying-trade in the Civil War ; Glasgow, it may be surmised, 
here lagged behind the other cities chiefly because of the 
cotton famine, which did not affect them. 

In general there is an agreement with the facts brought 
out in Table XX for the English cities, except that the 
falling off in the rate of concentration occurs later. This is 
undoubtedly due to the fact that the boundaries of the 
Scotch cities except Glasgow have been so broad that 
population has not found it necessary to cross the city limits 
as business encroached upon the resident districts. While 
in the last two decades the increase of the urban population 
as a whole (20.2 per cent, in 187 1-8 1 and 14.1 per cent, in 
1 88 1-9 1, in towns of 20,000+) exceeded the increase of the 

^ In this summary, Glasgow's population is that of the parliamentary borough, 
except in 1881 and 1891, where the area is that adopted for the parliamentary 
borough after Nov. i, 1891; the numbers being 577,419 and 658,198 respect- 
ively {Census of i8gi, i, 149, 152, 155). 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



63 



seven cities considered, this is caused partly by the accession 
of new towns from among the villages and partly by Glas- 
gow's higher rate (including suburbs). Speaking broadly, 
the force of attraction among the population centres of Scot- 
land is proportional to the mass, i. e. in rapidity of growth 
the order is (i) Glasgow, (2) the other larger cities, (3) 
urban population, (4) rural population, which is declining. 
The absolute and relative decrease of the rural population 
presented in Table XXIV is due almost entirely to a diminu- 
tion of the agriculturists, caused by deep-seated industrial 
movements which have brought more fertile land into com- 
petion with the old-world soil. In Scotland much complaint 
is made of the enclosure of land in forest preserves, ^ but it 
is obvious that this is merely the immediate occasion of a 
re-distribution of population caused by changes in the 
world's industry. That it is the scattered agricultural popu- 
lation and not the village population that is declining, is wit- 
nessed by the following percentages of increase and de- 
crease : 

Table XXVIII. 

1861-71. 1871-81. 1881-91. 

Towns (2,0004-) -{- 20.76 +18.20 -f- 14.06 

Villages (300-2,000) +I3-90 + 15-73 +4-OI 

Rural districts (300-) — 7.69 — 3.96 — 5.33 

In the last decade the village population failed to hold its 
own, denoting either an exceptional accession of villages to 
the rank of towns, or a real falling ofif in the growth of 
villages. In 1861 the village population constituted ii.i 
percent, of the population of Scotland; in 1871, 11. 5 per 
cent; in 1881, 12 per cent; in 1891, only 11. 6 per cent. 

Taking a wider view of the distribution of population in 
Scotland, it will be observed that the smaller cities have 
only maintained their ground while the great increase in tha 

* Cf. Longstaff's article on "Depopulation " in Y^grvi€% Dictionary of Politi- 
■cal Economy. 



64 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

urban population has been concentrated in the largest cities, 

thus: 

Table XXIX. 

Percentage of population resident in 

1801. 1851. iSgi. 

Glasgow 5.1 11.5 19.4 

Other " great cities " o. 5.4 10.4 

Cities 20,000- 1 cxj.ocx) 8,8 10.8 12.6 

" 10,000-20,000 3.1 4.5 7,5 

Total io,ooo-|- 1 7.0 32.2 49.9 

Towns 2,000-10,000 19,6 15.5 

Total 2,000 -f 51.8 65.4 

§3. Ireland. — Ireland is the one country of the Western 
world that has suffered a decline in population in the present 
century; but it nevertheless shows the general tendency 
toward concentration. The following table shows a steady 
increase down to 1851, followed by as steady a decrease: 

Table XXX.^ 

Population of Ireland. Urban Population. 

1801 S>2i6,33i 

1811 5,956,460 

1821 6,801,827 

1831 7.767.401 

1841 8,196,597 1,143.674 

1851 6,574,278 1,226,661 

1861 5.798,967 1,140,771 

1871 5,412,377 1,201,344 

1881 5,174,836 1,245.503 

1891 4,704,750 i,244,"3 

In the decade 1 841-51 occurred the great potato famine 
(1846) which carried off by death over 700,000 individuals 
and caused nearly a million more to depart from the 
country. Now it appears that this entire loss fell on the 

•The first census of Ireland was taken in 1821, and the earlier figures are sub- 
stantially estimates. The later figures agree with those given in the latest censli* 
(1891, pt. ii, Gene7-al Report, p. 107), except in the years 1841 and 1851, which 
here include the military, and therefore exceed those of the 1891 census by about 
20,000. The urban population in the last three or four censuses has included the 
population of all places exceeding 2,000; the data have been found in the varioot 
census reports, detailed reference to which is unnecessary. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



65 



rural districts, for the towns not only did not lose in popula- 
tion, but made gains in many cases, amounting in the aggre- 
gate to 83,000. Further, the Irish population has been de- 
creasing ever since the famine, but the urban population 
remains practically stationary ; the result being that we have 
in Ireland the universal phenomenon of relative growth of 
the cities (as compared with the country). Thus the pro- 
portion of urban and rural population was : 

1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1881. 1891 

Urban.. 13.9 18.7 19.7 22.2 24.1 26.4 

Rural 86.1 81,3 80.3 77.8 75.9 73.6 

In the last half-century the urban population has nearly 
doubled its proportion of the aggregate, but it is to be noted 
that this increase is not general among all the places 
counted as " urban ■' by the census. The villages and small 
towns have, in fact, decayed in sympathy with the emigra- 
tion of the rural population ; but this loss is fully made up 
by the rapid growth of Dublin and Belfast. Comparing the 
aggregate population of the nineteen cities of 10,000 and 
upwards in 1841 and 1891, it will be found that they gained 
about 237,000; but Dublin (inclusive of suburbs) and Bel- 
fast in the same period gained 257,000, thus showing a net 
loss for the remaining urban population."^ Broadly speak- 

^The following table, based on statistics furnished by Dr. Longstaff in his 
article on "Rural Depopulation" (y. of St. Soc, 58:429), includes the cities 
which had a population of io,ooo-{- in either 1841 or 1891 : 

Table XXXI. 

Population (ik thousands). 
1841. 

19 cities (lOjOoo-j-) 671. i 

Dublin City 232.7 

" suburbs 33.6 

Total Dublin 266.4 

Belfast 75.3 

Dublin and Belfast 341-7 

4 cities with 20,000 to 100,000 in 

1891 167.5 

13 remaining cities having less 

than 20,000 161.9 



I89I. 


Increase or Decrease 




per cent. 


908.5 


+35 


245- 


+5 


97-3 


+ 189 


342.3 


+28 


255-9 


+240 


598-3 


+ 75 


166.5 


— 0.6 


143.6 


— 12. 



66 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



ing, the growth of population in Ireland is confined to Bel- 
fast and the suburbs of Dublin ; Dublin itself attained its 
maximum numbers in 185 1 and has since steadily declined. 
Even in the most recent decade no other cities showed any 
substantial progress, although Londonderry, Lisburn and 
Lurgan and Dundalk increased slightly.'' Hence in Table 
XXXII the smaller cities are shown to have lost population 
in 1 881-91 ; the class of cities between 20,000 and 100,000 
betrays a small gain, which, however, is due to the inclusion 
of the larger Dublin suburbs. The gain in Dublin and Bel- 
fast is 43,000, which would be increased to 62,000 with the 
inclusion of the former's suburban population. 

Table XXXII. 



Cities. 


1800. 
No. Pop. 


1851. 

No. Pop. 


1881. 

No. Pop. 


1891. 
No. Pop. 




I 167,900 

4 186,000 

5 64,500 
10 418,400 


1 261,700 

6 313,060 

7 96,930 


2 457.724 

6 217,897 

12 149,314 


2 500.951 

6 218,617 

10 124,981 








Total, lo,ooo-j- 


14 671,690 


20 824,935 


18 844,549 



Sources. 

This summary is compiled from a variety of sources, the official documents not always being at 
hand. For 1891, the Census of Ireland, Part II, General Report, p. 327-9. For 1881, the Cen- 
sus 0/ 1881. For 1851, the Census (?/" /S^y/, supplemented by British Almanac, 1S52, and 
Harper's Statistical Gazetteer, 1855. For 1800 there are no official statistics. Those used in 
this table are mainly derived from Hassel, 1809, and relate to the period 1800-09. The actual 
figures follow: 



1800. 1851. 

1. Dublin 167,900 261,700 

2. Belfast 50,000 99,660 

3. Cork 67,000 86,485 

4. Limerick 39,000 55.268 

5. Waterford 30,000 26,667 

6. Galway 12,000 24,697 

7. Kilkenny 16,500 20,283 



1800. I 85 I. 

8. Londonderry 11,000 19,604 

9. Drogheda 10,000 16,876 

10. Newry 15,000 i3>227 

11. Wexford 12,471 

12. Clonmel 12,386 

13. Sligo ir,4ii 

14. Carlow 10,995 



^ Cf . Supan, ix, 49^ 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 67 

Probably no other country in Europe exhibits so clearly 
as does Ireland the influence which modern economic 
changes have brought about in the distribution of popula- 
tion. The re-organization of industry founded on interna- 
tional specialization has almost destroyed Irish agriculture 
and depopulated the rural districts and small towns of 
Ireland ; on the other hand it has built up the one industry 
wherein Irish producers work advantageously — the linen 
manufacture — and has moreover concentrated this industry 
in one city. The result is that the growth of Belfast in this 
century is equaled by very few cities in Europe ; while 
Dublin, a manufacturing and commercial city, and London- 
derry, a seaport, are the only other cities of importance that 
have grown at all since 1841. 

III. FRANCE. 

French statistics of urban population are exceptionally in- 
structive for two reasons : ( i ) they have been kept for a 
longer period and with greater scientific accuracy than those 
of other European nations, and (2 ) they concern the one great 
country of the nineteenth century whose population has 
reached a stationary condition. Elsewhere in Europe the 
rural populations, by reason of their continuous increase, 
produce a surplus which must migrate either to the cities or 
to foreign lands ; but in France this rural excess has been 
very small. That the cities of France have nevertheless 
enjoyed a rapid growth demonstrates the existence of world- 
wide influences upon the distribution of population. 

Since 1846 the French census reports have grouped to- 
gether as urban communes all the communes which contain 
a population of 2,000 or more, living in contiguous houses. ^ 
A commune might not contain any one community of 
1,000 or even 500 people; but so long as it included within 

^ An urban commune — " celle dont la population agglomeree depasse 2,000 
habitants;" agglomeree — " celle qui se groupe immediatement autour'du clocher." 



68 



THE GROWTH CF CITIES 



its borders 2,000 persons living in communities or groups 
and not entirely scattered, it would be classed among the 
urban communes, and its total population — the scattered as 
well as the agglomerated — would be added to the urban 
population. 

Table XXXIII.i 



1846 
185 1 

1856 
1 861 
1866 
1872 
1876 
1881 
1886 
1891 



Population. 



France. 



35,400,486'^ 

36,139.364 

37.386,313 

38,067,064 

36,102,921* 

36,905,788 

37,672,048 

38,218,903 

38,343.192 



Rural. 



26,753.743 
26,647,711 
26,244,536 
26,596,547 
26,471,716 
24,868,022 
24,928,392 
24.575,506 
24,452,395 
24,031,900 



Urban. 



8,646,743 

9,135.459 
9,844,828 
10,789,766 
".595.348 
11,234,899 
",977,396 
13,096,542 
13.766,508 
14,311,292 



Percentage of 

urban in 

total population. 



24.4 

25-5 
27.3 
28.9 

30-5 
31-1 
32.4 
34.8 
35-9 
37-4 



The table shows the rapid increase in the proportion of 
the French population classed as urban, starting from 24.4 
per cent, in 1846 and reaching 37.4 per cent, in 1891. This 
is an increase of 50 per cent., which is as much as England's 
increase in the same period. It is calculated that in 1920 
one-half of the population of France will be urban.* 

In France, the decline of the rural population is not only 
relative but absolute, thus being in effect a real rural de- 
population, except in so far as the rural loss is caused by the 
growth of villages into towns which thereby pass from the 
rural to the urban group. In 1846 the rural population 

' Risultats staiistiques du dinombrenient de i8gj. Paris, 1894, p. 32 and p. 65. 

'As finally corrected, 35,401,761. 

'Decrease due to loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the war of 1870-1. 

* Op. ciL, p. 66. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



69 



amounted to 26,753,743 ; in 1891 to 24,031,900. The de- 
crease is noticeable in all but two inter-censal periods, 
1856-61 and 1872-76. The former exception is accounted 
for by the annexation of Nice and Savoy in 1859, with a 
population of about 669,000. The latter increase, which is 
only 60,000, is very probably due to the dislocation of popu- 
lation in 1872 (concentration of troops), as a result of the 
war with Germany. Since 1876, the rural depopulation has 
continued unceasingly and has given the French sociologists 
a real problem to investigate. 

That the growth of the urban population and the decline 
of the rural population are not caused by differences in the 
natural movement of population is clearly shown by the 
vital statistics :^ 

Table XXXIV. 

1881-86. 1886-91. 

Rural. Urban. Rural. Urban. 

Births 2,587,437 1,543,112 2,609,250 1,692,719 

Deaths 2,254,994 1,499,447 2,417,506 1,693,848 

Natural increase .. -1-332,443 +43,665 -1-191,744 —1,129 
Total increase or 

decrease — 123,111 +669,966 — 393,479 +517,768 

Gain or loss by mi- 
gration —455.554 +626,301 —585,223 +518,897 

In the five-year period 1886-91, the urban population in- 
creased by 544,784 persons. Of this increase 27,014 were 
added by the growth of rural into urban communes ; but all 
of the remainder (517,768) and 1,129 persons in addition 
(the deficit of births) came from the rural districts which 
had an emigratfon of 585,223. This number is thrice as 
large as the excess of births over deaths. The increase of 
the urban population is due, not to a high birth-rate, but to 

1 Op. ciL, p. 72. The influence of villages growing into cities is here dis- 
counted by considering the same number of cities in 1886 and 1891, thus giving 
different results from those in Table CXX. 



7© 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



migration from the country. Perhaps this rural depopula- 
tion is most forcibly recalled by the fact that the number of 
small communes has been constantly increasing. As people 
leave the rural villages, these latter sink into the grade of 
hamlets ; thus the number of communes containing less than 
500 inhabitants has increased as follows : 

1851 15,684 

1861 16,547 

1876 16,442' 

1891 17,590 

1896 18,054 

A question of interest and importance now arises : Is the 
urban increase a village growth or a large-city growth? 
And Table XXXV gives the answer. Throughout the 
century the proportion of Frenchmen residing in villages 
(2,000-10,000) has scarcely varied from 1 1 per cent. 
Nor has the proportion in the smaller cities (10,000-20,000) 
appreciably increased. The middle-sized cities, and more 
particularly the great cities, are the places that have really 
gained from the re-distribution of the population. 

It is also interesting to find that the class of large cities 
increases not only by the continual recruitment from below 
but also by its own rapidity of growth. Thus, Levasseur 
tabulated for 1801 the cities which in 1881 had a population 
of at least 20,000.^* His results may be arranged thus : 

Increase per cent. 
1801-1881. 

France 40. 

Cities of 20,0004- (excluding Paris) 145. 

9 cities of 100,000+ (excluding Paris) 185. 

Paris 314- 

^ 1,689 communes lost in the war with Prussia. 

* Les Populations O'rbaines, pages II-14; reproduced in La Population Fran- 
(aise. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



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f% 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Taking the first 80 years of the present century, it is thus 
clearly demonstrated that the most rapid growth has been 
in the large cities ; and while in England London's rate of 
increase was invariably lower than that of the other great 
cities, or even the middle-sized cities, in France the capital 
leads the other cities by a wide margin. 

Table XXXVI will help to carry out the analysis more 
thoroughly; it is based on the principle of a fixed area or 
number of cities, which does away with the disturbing 
element of new cities arising from towns. And as the cities 
considered throughout are those of the France of to-day, we 
must take the population of France on its present territory 
in order to exclude Strasburg and other cities of Alsace- 
Lorraine. The table relates to four classes of cities. In de- 
fault of better statistics, the chefs-lietix or chief towns of the 
several arrondissemenis, which of course remain fixed in 
number, ^ will represent the smaller cities. To show how 
misleading it would be in this analysis to classify the cities 
at each census, column 1 1 has been added, which may be 
compared with column 9. The latter is concerned through- 
out with 12 cities, while the former starts with 2 and ends 
with 12. Obviously, any deductions as to the rate of in- 
crease of an average large city would be misleading if based 
on the high rate of column 11. 

^In this case no deduction is made for Alsace-Lorraine; but as there was no 
change until 1 87 1, the only years affected are 1886 and 1891, whose ratios are 
somewhat lower than they should be. The average population of the chefs-lieux 
in 1 80 1 was 10,618, and they were graded as follows: 

1801. 1836. 

Under 5,000 population 153 121 

From 5,000 to 10,000 124 136 

From 10,000 to 20,000 52 65 

From 20,000 to 100,000 31 38 

Over 100,000 3 3 

363 363 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



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74 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The table shows at once that the French cities have been 
growing at a rate proportionate to their size ; Paris leads off 
and is followed by the twelve large cities, the middle-sized 
cities, the smaller cities, and finally by France. And it is to 
be remembered that each of the lower rates gets the benefit 
of the higher rate, inasmuch as Paris is included among the 
large cities, the large cities in the class of cities above 
20,000 population, and so on. Thus there seems to be no 
exception to the rule that the larger the city the faster the 
growth.^ A graphical presentation of the facts of Table 
XXXVI would show that in the decade 1846-56 the great 
cities outstripped Paris; but in 1859 Paris annexed all the 
suburbs as far as the fortifications, and her curve of growth 
therefore takes a sharp upward bend in 1856-61. Since 
then Paris has on the whole kept ahead of the great-cities' 
class, although in certain periods, e. g., 1866—72, she fell 
somewhat behind. The third class of cities follow at a slower 
rate, although since 1840 they have distanced the chefs- 
lieux. The curve for the general population of France 
drags along at the bottom. 

Recent figures tend to show that the most rapid growth is 
in the middle-sized cities, as in England. 3 Thus the follow- 
ing table shows an increase of ^7 per cent, for all cities of 

^ The proof will be strengthened by the following figures giving the sum of all 
the chefs-lieux and of other cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants (a class 
midway between the chefs-lieux and cities of 20,000 — columns 7 and 8) :^ 

1801 3,894,000 1,000 

1836 S.i35»ooo 1.319 

1846 6,179,057 1,587 

1851 6,406,557 1,645 

1861 7.099.975 1.^23 

1866 7.769,906 1,995 

1886 10,202,000 2,620 

1891 11,055,401 2,838 

'Cf. Block, op. cit., i, 57, and Levasseur, ii, 343. 

' Supra, Table XX. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



75 



more than 10,000 population: the great cities («'. e., those 
with 100,000+) show precisely the same gain; the small 
cities (10,000-20,000) fall considerably below, and the 
middle-sized cities (20,000-100,000) rank somewhat above 
the average : 

Table XXXVII. 

Groups of Communes haviug in- ^ j ,,iio„ ;„ thousands. Pe-«ntage 

habitants agglomeres. i-v»i.ui«i,.v<u ..* uiuusauus. increase. 

1861. 1891. 

From 10,000 to 20,000 1,290.4 1,828.7 4^ 

From 20,000 to 100,000 i,94i'7 2,914.5 50 

100,000+ 3.066.5 4.943-0 47 

Total 10,000+ 6,298.6 9,236.2 47 

Closer analysis (as given in the census of 1891, p. 59, and 
reprinted in Table XXXVIII) shows that the largest increase 
in the middle-sized cities falls in the class of cities having a 
population of from 15,000 to 50,000: 

Table XXXVIIL 

1861. 1891. Increase per cent. 

10,000-15,000 751,121 988,810 33. 

15,000-20,000 539.292 839,863 56. 

20,000-30,000 619,074 932,536 51. 

30,000-50,000 595.105 936,009 57.5 

50,000-100,000 727.525 1.045.969 44. 

100,000+ 3,066,520 4,493,031 47. 

6,298,637 9,236,218 47. 

Judging from the recent development of suburbs every- 
where, the increase of the middle- class cities simply means 
a movement from the centre of the great city to its environs ; 
and the gains in the third-class cities will be swept away 
with the absorption of suburbs in the large cities. Such 
was the actual course of events in the period 1836-51. 

^ Comte De Chastellux, " Accroissement de la population urbaine en France," 
Journal des Economistes, 1857, 2d series, xiii, 372. 



76 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Figures like the above were published^ to show that the 
great cities were falling behind, thus : 

Table XXXIX. 

No. in 1836. Percentage incre^ of pop- 
' ulatton, 1836-51. 

ioo,ooo-|- 3 10.87 

5o,ocx>-ioo,ooo 6 10.77 

30,ooo-5o,cxx) 14 10.67 

20,000-30,000 20 11.60 

10,000-20,000 76 13-77 

5,000-10,000 273 6.61 

Total 392 10.02 

The inferences from these figures are supported by the 
diagrams of Levasseur and Meuriot, which show a falling off 
in the rate of increase in the great cities ; but with the in- 
corporation of their rapidly growing suburbs, which had 
contributed to the high rate for the smaller cities, the great 
cities again distanced the small ones. Our figures incon- 
trovertibly establish the fact that over a long period 
( 1 801-81), the French cities have grown in this order: 

1. Paris. 

2. The great cities. 

3. Middle-sized cities (20,000+). 

And, though the data cannot claim entire accuracy, it is 
reasonably certain that the small cities rank below the above 
classes in rate of increase. 

The connection of urban growth with industrial develop- 
ment in France is very close and may be easily shown with 
the aid of the commercial statistics at hand. M. Levasseur 
has graphically indicated in several diagrams in La Popula- 
tion Frangaise^ the progress of the great cities in France. 
Their growth does not fairly begin until 183 1 ; in 185 1 it is 
redoubled and continued until the war of 1870— i, since 
which, as a general rule, it has fallen off very considerably. 

1 Vol. ii, 347, 348. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



77 



The following percentages, based on Table XXXVI, illus- 
trate the course of development already portrayed by M. 
Levasseur : 

Table XL. 
Percentage increase of population in 

France. Twelve great cities. Ratio 

I. 3. a: I. 

1801-21 10.95 21'2 193* 

1821-31 6ut3 9-5 148. 

1831-41 5-1 17-7 349- 

1841-51 4-5 13.9 310- 

1851-61 2.7 51.9 1880. 

1861-72 i.o 1 1.3 1 130. 

1872-81 4.4 18.7 425. 

1881-91 1.8 9.7 535. • 

The vast increase of population in the cities in 1851-61 is 
in part due to large annexations by Paris (about 500,000 in 
1859), Lyons (1852), Lille (1858) and Havre. But if this 
annexed territory be included in the earlier census there will 
remain an unprecedented increase in the years 1851-72; 
thus the corrected rate of increase and the ratio to the rate 
of entire France are : 

1831-41 22.0 432 

1841-51 19.0 424 

1851-61 33.0 1220 

1861-72 lo.o 1000 

The Industrial Revolution, the efifects of which on the dis- 
tribution of population culminated in England in the decade 
1 82 1-3 1, began shortly after the Revolution of 1830 in 
France and was only fairly under way when Stephenson's 
invention of the railway locomotive revolutionized systems 
of communication. The full influence of both these revolu- 
tionary changes in industry did not make itself felt in France 
until the middle of the century, as appears from statistics re- 
specting the consumption of coal and cotton, the number of 
steam engines and the production of iron : 



78 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 
Table XLI. 



1789. 
1802. 
1810. 
1811. 
1815. 
1816. 
1817. 
1820. 
1825. 
1830. 

1835- 

1840. 
1845. 
1850. 

»8SS- 
i860. 
1865. 
1869. 
1870. 
1871. 
1875. 
1880. 
1885. 
1890. 



Cotton consumed * 
(million kilos). 



12 
13 



29 

53 



Stationary steam 
engines "^ (horse- 
power) , 



59 
123 
132 



34,350 



66,642 
180,555 



320.447 



544.152 
863,007 



Coal consumed ' 
(thousand tons). 



450 

935 



864 
1,112 



1,348 

1.994 

2,494 

3,288 

4,257 

6.343 

7,225 

12,294 

14,270 

18,522 

21,400 

18,880 



24,658 
28,846 

30,035 
32.318 



Production of pig 
and bar iron * 
(thousand tons). 



69 



199 
266 
295 
348 

439 
416 

849 

898 

1,204 

1,381 



1,448 

1.725 
1,631 



The consumption of cotton is a fair index of the state of 
the textile industry, and it will be noticed that the first 
marked increase occurs in the decade 1830-40. The 
figures for 1850 are hardly representative of the later decade, 
since industry had not then recovered from the destruction 
and dislocation produced by the Revolution of 1848; but it 
is clear that the period 1 840-60 was one of great growth in 
the cotton trade. 

Steam-power was evidently utilized to only a small extent 
in France before 1 840. Its rapid increase in 1 840-60 will 
be perceived. 

' Block, in Lalor's Cyclopedia of Foliiical Science, ii, 274. 

* A. de Foville, La France Economique, annie 1889, p. 194. 
'Foville, o/. «V., 208. 

* Ibid,, 214, and Block, Statistique de la France, ii, 200. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



79 



The consumption of coal does not take on imposing 
dimensions before 1825 ; and once more the period 1840-60 
(together with 1872-85) is seen to be one of unusually- 
rapid expansion. 

Inferences of a similar character may be drawn from the 
statistics of iron production. Taken all together, they 
demonstrate the importance of the period 1840-60 in the 
industrial history of France, Hand in hand with this indus- 
trial development went a commercial development. A 
diagram '' representing the total foreign commerce (imports 
and exports, excluding goods in transitu) would show that 
steady growth began about 1834 and continued slowly until 
1846. But after the February Revolution the curve rises 
more rapidly and reaches maxima in 1856, 1864 and 1872. 
The internal commerce passed through similar stages of 
growth. As is generally known, the era of railway building 
opened in France several years later than it did in England 
and the United States ; the legislation of 1 842 may fairly be 
said to denote a serious purpose on the part of the country 
to develop the new system of transportation.'' Hence, it 

^ Based on the statistics given by Block, op. cit, ii, 286, and Foville, op.cii, 271-2. 
^QA.'R^^^y, Railroad Transportation, 190. The following table (compiled 
from Block, ii, 322, and Foville, 307) indicates its subsequent progress : 

Railways Total length of rail- Railways Total length of rail- 
opened, way in operation. opened. way in operation. 
(Kilometers). (Kilometers). 

1835 149 1853 190 

1842 27 593 1854 596 

1843 229 1855 886 5,527 

1844 2 1856 664 

1845 52 1857 1,262 

1846 438 1858 1,222 

1847 509 1859 - 393 

1848 390 i860 365 9,433 

X849 628 1865 515 13,585 

1850 151 3,002 187s 21,770 

1851 544 1880 26,190 

1852 316 1885 32,497 



8o THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

was not until the middle of the century that the changes in 
the distribution of population began on a large scale in 
France, while they took place in the two Anglo-Saxon 
countries in 1840-50. The merchandise trafific of the 
French railways amounted to 200,000 tons (metric) in 
1847; in 1854, it had reached a million tons; in 1857, two 
million tons; in i860, three million tons, and thereafter in- 
creased at the rate of about one million tons each three 
years, aggregating in 1883, eleven million tons, and since 
then increasing very slowly/ 

The connection between industry and distribution of 
population is thus seen to be too direct in France to demand 
extended exposition. 

IV. GERMANY. 

The German Empire has done much for the improvement 
of statistics, and its own statistical publications are of the 
highest rank. But as the Empire itself is a comparatively 
recent creation, its statistics do not suffice for a study of the 
concentration of population in its historical development. 
For the greater part of the century, therefore, the investiga- 
tion will be based on the statistics of Prussia, the predomi- 
nating and typical state of the Empire. Saxony is more 
advanced industrially than Prussia, but is too small to serve 
as the typical German state. 

Table XLII shows the urban and rural populations at the 
several censuses. The definition of urban population, it 
should be remarked, is here a legal rather than a statistical 
one, and includes only such places as possess certain rights 
and privileges. The legal distinction between Stadtgemeinden 
and Landgemeinden had a real basis in fact earlier in the 

^ Album de statisiique graphique de iSgj (published by the Bureau de la Statii* 
tique generale de la France), Table 20. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH gl 

century, but it is now lost. Many Landgemeinden have be- 
come cities in every sense of the word except the legal one. 
Thus in 1895, according to the preliminary census returns, 
there were 52 towns classed in the rural population although 
they contained a population of more than 10,000 in each 
case, some of them being large cities. The distribution of 
the rural population according to the size of the dwelling 
place was as follows : 

Places containing No. Aggregate population. 

50,ooo-(- inhabitants 2 122,615 

20,000 to 50,000 " 6 172,788 

10,000 to 20,000 " 44 598,413 

5,000-10,000 " 140 922,038 

2,000-5,000 " 700 2,048,191 



Total 2,000+ 892 3,864,045 

Less than 2,000 5i>570 i5>03Ij976 



18,896,021 



Here is a population of 3,864,045 which should be reck- 
oned as urban ; on the other hand, there were 317 urban 
Gemeinden containing less than 2,000 inhabitants with an 
aggregate of 435,761. If the population be distributed on 
the usual basis of division we shall have this contrast : 

Urban. Per cent. Rural. Per cent. 

Legal 12,953,774 = 40-66 18,896,021 = 59.34 

Statistical 16,382,058 = 51.41 15.467,737 = 48.59 

Prussia's population is now more than half urban accord- 
ing to the statistical definition, whereas only 40.7 per cent, 
is urban according to the legal distinction. But in 1867, 
the earliest year in which the statistical distinction between 
urban and rural population can be drawn, the difference was 



82 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table XLII. 
growth of population in prussia. 





Cities of 100,000 + 
No. Pop. Per cent. 


No. 


AU Cities. 
Pop. Per cent. 


Rural. 
Pop. Per cent. 


Total Pop. 
of Prussia. 


1816 


2 
2 
2 
3 
3 
3 
3 
4 
4 
6 
7 

12 
16 
18 


197,817= i.gi 
257,336= 1.90 
265,394= 1.88 
311,491= 2.09 
333,990= 2.16 
495,995= 3-o8 
505.376= 3-09 
535,990= 3-i6 
648,415= 3.78 

677,443= 3-84 
776,679= 4.28 
883,377= 4-6i 
1,105,831= 4.61 
1,275,663= 5.18 
1,673,728= 6.50 
2,049,136= 7.51 
2,880,293^=10.17 
3,979,886=13.29 
4,632,731=14.55 


935 
972 
972 
973 
979 
980 
980 
981 
986 
987 
992 
994 
1273 
1290 
1286 
1287 
1287 
1263 
1266 


2,627,655=25.46 
3,464,587=25.64 
3,639,983=25.82 
3,861,017=25.87 
4,059,840=26.25 
4,308,065=26.73 
4,370,863=26.76 
4,438.377=27-38 
4,750,144=27-71 
5,038,812=28.53 
5,351,219=29.41 
5,717,586=29.84 
7,456,160=31.10 
8,000,931=32.46 
8,780,267=34.18 
9,707,802—35.58 
10,554,596=37-27 
11,786,061=39.38 
12,953,774=40.66 


7,438,460=73.50 
9,825,256=72.73 
10,244,353=72.67 
10,863,337=72.77 
ii,2o8,376=:72.45 
1 1 ,6o3,990=;72.02 

11,714,275=71-73 
12,120,211=71.57 

I2,l8l,39i:=7I.ll 

12,436,610=70.41 
12,810,719=69.28 
13,191,943=68.85 
16,515,177=68.90 

16,605,253=67.54 

16,913,367=65.82 

17,571,309=64.42 
17.763,874=62.73 

18,169,220=60.62 
18,896,021=59.34 


10,349,031 
13,507,999 
14,098,125 
14,928,503 
15,471,084 
16,112,938 
16,331,187 
16,935.420 
17,202,013 
17.739,913 
18,491,220 

19.255,139 
23.971,337 
24,641,539 
25.693,634 
27,279,111 
28,318,470 
29,955,281 
31,849,79s 










1846 








1858 


I86I 


1864 


1867 






1880 


1885 


1890 

189s 



Sources. — From 1816 to 1864, inclusive. Dr. H. Schwabe " Ueber die Quellen fur das Wachs- 
tum der grossen Stadten im preussischen Staate," Berliner Stadt und Gemeinde-Kalendar 
tind Statistisches Jahrbuchfiir iBby, Erster Jahrgang. 

From 1871 to 1895, inclusive, Vorldufige Ergebnisse der Volkszdhl-un^ votn s Dezember, 
l8()S% im Konigreich Preussen ; and Jannasch, " Das Wachsthum und die Concentration der 
Bevolkerung des preussischen Staates," Zeitschrift des konigltch preussischen statistischen 
bureaus, 1878, xviii, 263-284. 

The official Volkszahlungen. 

Up to 1864, the military population is excluded from the urban and rural classification while 
appearing in the general total for Prussia; hence the sum of the urban and rural is not equal to 
the total in the last column. In 1871 there Ytfere 35,355 troops in France, which are similarly 
treated; i8t6, similarly 29,038; 1849,34,704. 

While the passing of towns from one category to another by their growth has important effects 
on the percentages, it plays no considerable part in the rural population ; the latter lost thus only 
some 17,000 inhabitants in the period 1840-55. 

The lack of figures antecedent to 1816 is of no consequence, as the fifteen years of war left the 
country practicsdly where it was in the first year of the century. The figures are not absolutely 
exact owing to frequent annexations, and to the varying treatment of the military hy the different 
authorities. In the general total, the aim has been to include the whole population even when 
some Prussian troops were on foreign soil. The authority mainly relied upon for this was the 
Statistisches Handbuchfur den preussischen Staat, 1893 (Vol. ii) ._ Another set of figures was 
given by Dr. Engel, the director of the Prussian bureau of statistics, in the bureau's Zeitschrift 
for 1861, i, 25: 



Military 



Cities. 



1816 2,881,533 

1822 3,167,933 

1831 3,599.63s 

1840 4,066,266 

1849 4,582,198 

1858 5,235,999 



Total. 


in city. 


m country 


10,319,993 


150,094 




11,664,133 


169,960 




13.038,970 


258,215 




14,928,503 


205,247 




16,296,483 


257,385 


3,451 


17,672,609 


195,966 


4,273 



Country. 

7,838,460 
8,496,200 

9,439,335 
10,862,237 
11,714,285 
12,436,610 

In these statements are excluded 29,038 Prussian troops stationed in France in 1816; 34,704 
military in 1849; 67,304 persons in 1858, most of whom were residents of the principality of 
Hohenzollem annexed in 1849. As between this table and Table XLII, the principal difference 
that exists relates to the urban population, and is due to the inclusion of the military in the former 
case and its exclusion in the latter. 

The military constituted the following proportion of every 100 inhabitants in the years 
1834. 1837. 1840. 1843. 1846. 1849. 1852. 1855. 1858. 1861. 1864. 
1.63 1. 51 1.36 1.30 1.25 1. 51 1.05 1.18 1.06 1. 31 1. 31 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



83 



less important % and it is safe to neglect it altogether for the 
first half of the century. 

Down to 1852 the concentration of population can scarcely 
be observed in Prussia. Table XLII shows, indeed, a very 
small and gradual increase in the percentage of the popula- 
tion reckoned as urban, but this would almost disappear if 
the military were added to the urban population — ^where it 
mostly belongs.' The figures of Dr. Engel therefore indi- 
cate that the urban increase was actually slower than the 
rural increase down to 1843. His figures "= end with 1858, 
but the ratios for 1895 have been appended: 

i8i6. 1822. 1831. 1840. 1849. 1858. 1895. 

Prussia.... i<xx) 11 30 1263 1447 1579 1702 3086 

Urban .... 1000 1099 1249 1411 1590 1817 4500 

Rural icxx) 1142 1269 1461 1575 1672 2540 

It may be regarded as sufficiently established that the 
modern tendency toward a preponderance of the urban 
population was not manifested in Prussia before the middle 
of the century. Then came suddenly a period of rapid con- 
centration, which is shown below in a comparison of the 
rates of increase of the entire population. For an increase 

^The percentages were 35.8 and 31. i. Taking all townships {Gemeinden) of 
2,000+ population : 

Table XLIII. 

Percentage of 

Number. Population, total population. Rural population. 

1867 1,400 8,585,954 35.81 15.385.383 

1871 1,406 9.176,258 37.29 15,429,926 

1875 1.514 10,343,618 40.26 15,350,016 

1880 I.615 11,614,385 42.60 15,664,726 

1885 1,648 12,754,674 45.00 15.563.796 

1890 1,726 14,529,598 48.50 15,425,683 

1895 1.841 16,382,058 51.43 15,467,737 

The principal source of information is Jannasch, loc. ciL, xviii, 275; with sub- 
sequent censuses. 

2 Cf. Remarks under Table XLII. 



H 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table XLIV. 

Growth of Population of Germany, the great cities and Berlin. 



1819.. 
1837.. 
1840.. 
1849.. 
1852.. 
1855.. 
1858.. 
1861 . . 
1864.. 
1867.. 
1871.. 
1875.. 
1880.. 
1885.. 
1890.. 



Present terri- 
tory of 
the German 
Empire. 



25 great cities of 1890. 



25,917,010 

31.589.547 
32,785,150 
35,128,398 
35,929,691 
36,111,644 
36,960,742 
38,137,410 

39.389.904 
40,088,621 
41,058,792 
42,727,360 
45,234,061 
46,855,704 
49.428,470 



1,239,700 
1,527,400 
1,636,500 
1,867,600 
2,050,400 
2,153,000 
2,295,800 
2,484,748 
2,766,138 
2,994,645 
3.352.181 
3,812,144 

4,325.952 
4,844,240 
5,970,000 



With suburbs. 



Berlin. 
4- 



3,432,261 
3,883,923 
4,538,900 
5,211,366 
5,969,089 
7,077,476 



201,138 
283,722 
328,692 
378,204 
438,958 
447.483 
458,637 

547.571 

632,749 

702,437 

826,341 

966,858 

1,122,330 

1,315,287 

1.578,794 



Of total popula- 
tion, the follow- 
ing numbers 
per 1,000 were in 
the 25 cities. 



47- 

48. 

50. 

53-1 

57.1 

59.5 

62.1 

65.2 

70.4 

74.9 
81.6 
89.2 

95-6 
104.3 
120.7 1 



Berlin's 
propor- 
tion of the 
25 cities. 

6. 



16.2 
18.5 
20.0 
20,3 
21.4 
20.8 
20.0 
22.0 
22.9 

23-4 
24.6 

25-3 
25-9 
26.9 
26.4 



' Or, including annexations made since the census of i8go, 128.8. 

Sources. 
The data of column i refer to the " resident " population down to the year 1864. In 1867 the 
" resident " population of Germany was 40,180,825, which is about 100,000 more than the 
" actual population " as given in the table. Cf. Monatshefte zur Statistik des Deutschen 
Reichs, ii, Heft vii, 54, 1879 (Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Erste Reihe, Bd. 37) and recent 
numbers of Statistisches Jahrbuchfiir das Deutsche Reich, 

iSgo.Data from Viirteljahrshe/te zur Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, 1892, ii: " Gemeinden 
und Wohnplatzen vom mindestens 2,000 Einwohnern nach dem Eigebniss der Volkszahlung vom 
I Dezember, 1890." .... The population of Munich was there given as 349,024, but was after- 
wards corrected. 

1885. Data from Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Neue Folge, Bd. 3s. 
" " " " " Erste Reihe, Bd. S7. 

" " " " " " " Bd. 2S, ii, p. 88. 



1880. 
1875. 
1871. 
1867. 



4, V (except Bres- 



" Monatshefte zur Statistik des Deutschen Reiches, 18 
lau, which has been allowed to stand). 

1864 and 1861. Data for the Prussian cities: Jahrbuch der amtlichen Statistik des preus- 
sischen Staats, i, 1876. For the other cities, see below. 

For the years 1840-1858: The Prussian cities as above for 1861-64; the other cities as below. 

For 1837 and 1819: (i) Hoffman, Beitrage zur Statistik des preussischen Staats, Berlin, 
1821. (2) Hoffman, Die Bevolkerung des preussischen Staats, Berlin, 1839. 

The other sources mentioned are as follows : 

Altona, (a) Tabellen iiber die, in den Herzogthiimem Schleswig und Holstein am i Feb., 
^835, vorgenommene Volkszahlung, Kopenhagen, 1836; containing 1803 and 1805. (b) Einleit- 
ung zu dem statistischen Tabellenwerk, neue Reihenfolge, 12 Band, iiber die Volksmenge in 
Konigreich Denmark, etc, Kopenhagen, 1857; fo"" 1845 and 1855. (c) Ergebnisse der am 3 Dez. 
1864 in Herzogthum Holstein vorgenommenen Volkszahlung, Kiel, 1867; for i860 and 1864. 
__ Brunswick, Beitrage zur Statistik des Herzogthums Braunschweig, Heft xii, 1895, and Heft 
ii, Volkszahlung fur 1871. 

Bremen, Jahrbuch fur die amtliche Statistik des Bremischen Staates, V. Jahrgang (1871) 2te 
Heft, p. 10. 

Chemnitz, M. Flinger (sometime director of the municipal statistical bureau). Die Bewegung 
der Bevolkerung in Chemniu von 1730 to 1870. Chemnitz, 1872. 



(From Table XLII.) 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 85 

of 100 in the Prussian population there was an increase in 

the urban population of 

1816-34 . c 103 

1 834-52 Ill 

1852-61 234 

1861-71 146 

1867-71 233 

1867-71 233 1 

^^r"^° ^53 j (From Table XLIII.) 

1880-90 253 j ' 

1890-95 196 J 

That the inferences drawn from this investigation o the 
Prussian population also hold good of Germany at large 
may be concluded from a comparison of the growth of the 
larger German cities with that of the whole country. In 
Table XLIV such a comparison is made for Berlin and the 
25 cities which in 1890 severally contained 100,000+ inhab- 
itants. As might be expected, the great cities have 
developed more rapidly than the entire urban population, 
but down to 1849 their rate of increase was comparatively 
slow (cf. col. 5) ; and Dr. Bruckner in his brilliant statistical 
study of these great cities does not go back of 1861.'' Their 
increase compared with Germany is — 

1819-37 108 

1837-52 244 

1852-61 345 

The great cities began their career a little earlier than the 

Dresden, Mitteilungen des statistischen bureaus der stadt Dresden. Heft ii. Dresden 1875, 

^raw/^ar/, Beitrage zur Statistik der Stadt Frankfurt a M. Neue Folge. i te Heft. 

Hamburg, Statistisches Handbuch fiir den Hamburgischen Staat. 4te Ausgabe, 1891, p. 17. 

Hannover, Zur Statistik des Konigreichs Hannover, Heft 2 (for 1833 and 1848), Heft 4 (for 
1852) ; Sonne, Beschreibung des Konigr. Hannover, Bd. 4, p. 339 (for 1813-24). 

Leipzig-, Mitteilungen des statistischen Bureaus der Stadt Leipzig. Helt 6._ 

Munich, Mitteilungen des statistischen Bureaus der Stadt Miincnen. Bd. ii. 

StrassSurg-, Statistique de la France, Territoire et Population, Paris, 1837 (covering 1789 to 
1836) ; Resultats generaux du denombrement de 1861, etc. Strasbourg, 1864 (covering 1836-1861). 

Stuttgart, Beschreibung von Wiirtemburg (publ. by the royal statistical-topographical bureau). 
Heft 36. Stuttgart, 1856. 

The suburban population statistics are from Bruckner's article in Ailg. Stat. Archiv., vol. i,p. 
149. In making out his list of suburbs, Dr. Bruckner followed the suggestions of local authorities. 

' " Die Entwickelung der grossstadtischen Bevolkerung im Gebiete des Deut- 
schen Reiches," in Allg. Stat. Archiv., vol. i. 



86 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

urban population as a whole, as will appear in a closer 
analysis of the ratios just given : 

25 cities. Prussian urban population. 

1849-52 410 

1852-55 150 354 

1855-58 ••• 300 193 

1858-61 270 152 

While entire accuracy cannot be claimed for these figures, 
it is to be remarked that it is only natural for the impulse 
toward concentration to make itself felt first in the great 
cities. The subsequent development is to be seen in Dr. 
Bruckner's figures^ which express the average annual in- 
crease for each i ,000 of the mean population : 



Table XLV. 





Ger- 
many. 






Berlin. 


Relative rates. 




The 25 large cities. 

Excluding Including 

suburbs. 


Average 

for 
Germany. 


,=5 
cities. 


25 cities 

with 
suburbs. 


Berlin. 


1861-64.. 
1864-67.. 
1867-71.. 

1871-75.. 

1875-80.. 
1880-85.. 
1885-90.. 


10.8 
6.6 

5-9 

lO.O 

1 1.4 

7.0 

10.7 


35-7 
22.0 
28.2 
32.1 

25-3 
24.2 
30.8 


30-9 
38.9 
27.6 
27.1 
35-5 


48.4 

34.5 
40.5 
39-2 
29-3 
31.7 
36.5 


100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 


330 
333 
495 
321 
222 
346 
288 


524 
389 
242 

387 
332 


448 

523 
686 

392 

257 

453 

341 



Bruckner has avoided the disturbances caused by annexa- 
tions by carrying back his calculations on the basis of the 
territory of each city at the latest census. But he wrote 
originally before the census of 1890, and to avoid an un- 
usually high rate as a result of suburban annexations, he 



'Zoc. cit., 151, 169. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



87 



subtracts these/ Otherwise the ratio for 1885-90 would be 
425 instead of 288. In any event it is clear that the con- 
centration of population in Germany continued with undim- 
inished force to 1890. 

With this exception, the period in which the cities grew 
most rapidly was 1 861-4, but in 1867-71 with a smaller rate 
of gain the process of concentration reached its height, the 
increase of the 25 cities being five times as large as that of 
Germany ; Berlin's increase being at the same time nearly 
seven times as large. In the other inter-censal periods, the 
rate of growth of the cities remains three times as high as 
that of the Empire, except in 1875-80, when it fell to 2.22. 

The causes of this movement of population will be found 
in the industrial history of Germany. Prior to 1840, Ger- 
many was a land of local industries producing for local 
markets. The English factory system, with its vastly in- 
creased production, was unknown in Germany. Professor 
Schmoller, who is wont to see the brighter side of the 
system of domestic industry and small employers, character- 
izes the years 1830-40 as the happiest decade of the nine- 
teenth century for German workingmen. But in 1835 ^^ 
first railway line in Germany had been opened^ and in its 

^ Namely : 

Elberfeld 2,719 

Altona 21,589 

Cologne 78,036 

Munich 18,392 

Leipzig 1 19,472 

Total 240,208 

If this sum were subtracted from the aggregate population of the cities in Table 

XLIV, their proportion would be reduced from 120.7 to "5 per thousand (col. 5), 

* From this time on railways were rapidly extended, as shown by the following 

figures from Conrad's Hdwbh. (Art. " Eisenbahnen ") : 

Kilometers. 

1840 469 

1850 5,856 

i860 11,088 

1870 18,450 

1880 33»4" 

1890 4»»793 



88 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

wake came all those fundamental changes in the organiza- 
tion of industry which had been made in England earlier in 
the century. 

The new technique was admitted and industry trans- 
formed ; " Grossindustrie " or production on a large scale 
slowly superseded " Kleinindustrie ; " banks and the ap- 
paratus of a credit system were established ; it was a period 
of economic and political ferment. By 1848 the industrial 
transformation had been to a considerable extent accom- 
plished and the Revolution of that year, its natural outcome, 
carried the political changes as far as they were destined to 
go for some time. About the same time industry was 
stimulated by the inflow of new gold from California and 
Australia, and there came to Germany a period of unparal- 
lelled industrial expansion. It was then that the growth of 
cities began, which has already been described. This con- 
tinued, with increasing rapidity, until the maximum rate of 
concentration was reached in 1867-71 (Table XLV), partly 
as a result of an increased emigration to America^ (from the 
rural population), partly as a result of military operations in 
the wars against Austria and France, which not only checked 
the increase in the population of the country as a whole 
(thereby emphasizing the relative progress of the cities), 
but drafted soldiers from the rural districts to strategic 
points, and also, as in the United States, in 1 860-70, greatly 
stimulated manufactures for the supply of war needs and 
new wants arising in a rejuvenated and triumphant people. 

^ After 1854 emigration steadily decreased for a decade, e. g., 215,000 in 1854, 
27,559 in 1862. After that, emigration to the United States increased (Philippo- 
vich, in Conrad's Hdwbh., i, 1019) : 

1862-64 ii7>96i 

1865-67 332,742 

1868-70 339*637 

Poor harvests in 1867 and 1868 also had some effect on the movement of pop- 
ulation. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH gcj 

While the rate of increase of the whole German population 
was greatly reduced in 1867-71, Berlin nearly maintained its 
high rate of 1858-64 and contributed largely to the concen- 
tration noticeable in Table XLV. The table shows the 
effects of the crisis of ''j'j in checking agglomeration. The 
industrial depression following this crisis was even more 
severe in Germany than in the United States, as it brought 
to an end the period of unprecedented speculation following 
the successful termination of the French war and the pay- 
ment of the French idemnity. All this time emigration was 
declining '^ as a result of the hard times in the United States 
after 1873, thus depressing the general rate of increase. 
Since 1880 Germany has been rapidly advancing along 
healthy lines in both commerce and manufactures, and her 
city populations have increased amazingly. Since 1880 the 
rural population has apparently been declining (Table 
XLVI), but this is in no sense a rural depopulation. Be- 
tween 1880 and 1890 the number of towns having at least 
2,000 inhabitants increased from 2,707 to 2,891, thus involv- 
ing a minimum rural decrease of 368,000. But the total 
rural decrease in 1880-90 was only 328,290. 

As may be inferred from Tables XLIV and XLV, the 
tendency toward agglomeration in Germany has been a cen- 
tralizing one, that is, a concentration in the largest cities. 
The great cities have increased more rapidly than the urban 

^The total immigration to all foreign countries was as follows (^Ibid., i, 1019) : 

1871 75.912 

1872 128,152 

1873 110,438 

1874 47.671 

1875 32,329 

1876 29,644 

1877 22,898 

1878 25,627 

1879 35.888 

1880 : 117,097 



90 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 












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ST A TISTICS OF URBAN GR WTH 9 j 

population, and Berlin faster than either. This conclusion 
appears with overwhelming force in the following statistics 
from the German census of 1885 : 

Table XLVII. 

ANNUAL INCREASE PER THOUSAND OF THE MEAN POPULATION: 

1867-71. 1871-75. 1875-80. 1880-85. 1867-85. 

Gemeinden of less than 2,000 in '85. 0.6 i.i 6.0 — 0.2 2.0 

" 2,000-5,000.... " " 6.4 12.4 12.4 8.4 9.9 

" 5,000-20,000... " " 12.4 25.5 19.7 16.4 18.3 

" 20,000-100,000. " " 22.0 30.3 22.9 21.7 23.6 

" ioo,ooo-t- " " 26.9 33.2 25.3 24.1 26.6 

Germany 5.9 10.0 11.4 7.0 8.6 

In this table, the irregularities occasioned by the passing 
of towns from one group to another between censuses are 
avoided by classifying all the towns as returned in the census 
of 1885 and then computing their population at the previous 
censuses. The result is singularly striking. In each inter- 
censal period the percentage of growth increases with the 
size of the agglomeration. If the several rates be compared 
with Germany's for the entire period 1867-85, the following 
result will be obtained : 

Germany 100 

Towns of less than 2,000 23 

" " 2,000-5,000 115 

" "5,000-20,000 213 

" " 20,000-100,000 275 

" " 100,000 and more 310 

And as has already been shown (in Table XLIV), the 
class of great cities has itself been outstripped by Berlin. 
In 1819, of the residents of the 25 cities under consideration, 
one in six was a Berliner, but in 1890, one out of every four. 

If now we take account of the increase in population in 
cities not only through the tendency of people to migrate 
thither, but also through additions to the number of cities, 



9'2 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



we shall see the concentration of population in cities consid- 
erably intensified. Table XLVI shows that the smaller 
towns and cities have held their own in the general increase, 
while the middle-sized cities (20,000-100,000) made only a 
moderate gain. Almost the entire increase of population 
has been absorbed by the great cities. 

To indicate the development at wider intervals, it is 
necessary to recur to the data for Prussia. Tables XLII 
and XLIII yield the following percentages : * 

Table XLVIII. 

Percentage of population of Prussia in 
Towns of 1816. 1849. 1890. 

ioo,cxx5-|- 1.8 3.1 12.9 

20,000-100,000 4.2 4.7 lO.I 

10,000-20,000 1.25 2.83 7.0 

Total io,ooo-f 7.25 10.63 3°'° 

2,000-10,000 19-25 I7'67 18.5 

Total 2,000+ 26.50 28.30 48.5 

Saxony's urban growth has surpassed that of Prussia, the 
reason being that Saxony is more exclusively a manufactur- 
ing state. For Saxony the following summary is presented : 

* As previously remarked, the legal definition of " Stadtgemeinde " corresponds 
closely to the statistical definition down to about 1850, and is therefore used in 
these totals for 1816 and 1849. There are no statistics earlier than 1816, but it 
has been found that few changes took place between 1800 and 1816, the gains in 
population having been wiped out in the Napoleonic wars. That the distribution 
of population in Prussia may be regarded as fairly typical of Germany may be 
shown by comparing Tables XLVII and XI.VIII : 

Prussia. Germany. 

Cities of 100,000+ 12.9 I2.X 

" "20,000-100,000 lO.I 9.8 

" " 2,000-20,000 25.5 25.1 

Total 48.5 47.0 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



93 



Table XLIX. 








1834. 
No. Pop. 


1849. 
No. Pop. 


1890. 
No. Pop. 


I'- 








3 792,318 


22.6 


3 132,072 
I 11,279 


3 187,219 
6 69,667 

9 256,886 
(92 354,984) 


9 259,559 
165,461 

1,217,338 
(1,043,445) 


7-4 
4-7 


4 143,351 
(72 281,729) 


34-7 


76 425,080 
1,595,668 


loi 611,870 
1,894,431 


2,260,783 
3,502,684 


64.53 
100. 


Authorities. 









1815. 
No. Pop. 
Cities of 100,000+ o 

" " 20,000-100,000.. 2 88,700 
" " 10,000-20,000... I 13,623 

Cities of 10,000+ 3 102,300 

Towns of 2,000-10,000 (by subtraction) 

Total 2,000+ 

Saxony 1,148,802 



Statistische Mittheilungen aus dem Konigreich Sachsen, i, 1851, for period 1834-49. 

" Stadt und Land im Konigreich Sachsen von 1834 bis 1875," in Zeitschrift des K'dnigl, saclis 
sfaiis. Bureaus, xxii, 296-306 (1876). 

G. Lommatzch, i?ze Bewegung des Bevolkerungsstandes im Konigreich Sachsen 1871-90. 
Dresden, 1894. 

Hauptergebnisse der sachsischen Statistik. A. Bevolkerungsstatistik, 1834-90, in Zeit- 
schrift, e.\.z., 36:51-63 (1890). 

Results of the census of 1890 in Zeitschrift, etc., 37: 51 (1891). 

Cf. also Repertorium der in sammtlichen Puhlicationen des Kong, sacks, siatis. Bureaus 
von 1831-86 behandelten Gegenstdnden. 

Bavaria has a smaller urban population, especially as re- 
gards great cities. The earlier statistics are wanting : 

Table L. 
1818. 1852. 1890. 

Per 
Cities. No. Pop. No. Pop. Per cent. No. Pop. cent. 

ioo,ooo-f- o I 109,574 2.4 2 493.184 8.8 

20,000-100,000 4 136,800 5 169,318 3.72 10 393.938 7-0 

10,000-20,000 17 240,184 4.7 

Total 10,000+ 29 1,127,306 20.5 

Urban (2,000+) 1,782,463 31.9 

Urban (official) 52 611,122 13.4 52 1,287,704 20.5 

Bavaria 3.707.966 • • 4,559,452 5.594.982 

Authorities. 

Beitrdge zur Statistik des KSnigreichs Bayerns, Heftl. (1850); Heftiz (1865); Hefte 28, 
31, 32 (1871); Hefte 36, 42 (1875); Heft 46 (1880); Heft 58 (1890). Also Zeitschrift des 
KSnigl. bdyerischen statist. Bureaus, vols. 8, g, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24. And the Bavarian statistical 
Jahrbuch, ii (1895). 

For index of Bavarian official statistical documents cf. Geschichte und Einrichtung der 
amtlichen Statistik im K'dnigr. Bayern, Miinchen, 1895 (p. 309.^-) • 

The "official" urban population consists of 52 towns (see note i, p. 94). 

The census of 1890 showed that the concentration was in 
the direction of the larger cities : 



94 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table LI. 
Increase per cent. 

1840-52. 1853-71. 1871-80. 1880-qo. 1840-90. 

Bavaria 4.31 6.42 8.92 5.87 28. 

Rural 3.32 2.52 5.59 .78 12.71 

Urban^ 11.24 3i-6o 25.67 27.41 134.39 

12 cities of 20,000 -|- in 

1890 12.97 4542 30-03 3440 187.09 

Munich 14.55 55.14 19.60 43.28 204.52 

V. AUSTRIA. 

The Austrian census of 1890 is a model work. A com 
bination of American ingenuity in the way of electrical 
tabulating machines, and of German thoroughness and com- 
pleteness in working up the results, produced a statistical 
document far and away superior to any other census. It is 
especially valuable for its classification of dwelling-centres, 
with the presentation of all the essential data in accordance 
with this classification ; thus encouraging investigations into 
the structure and composition of town-populations of vary- 
ing size. 

At the present time there exists in Austria a strong 
tendency toward agglomeration. Thus, between 1880 and 
1890 the percentage increase was as follows'' in 

Places of less than 500 inhabitants 4.83 

" " 500-2,000 " 2,30 

" " 2,000-5,000 " 7.34 

" " 5,000-10,000 " 6.93 

" " more than 10,000 " 33'06 

Austria 7.91 

The Austrian population increased 7.91 per cent, in the 
decade, but none of the towns under 10,000 population 
reached this rate, while the exceptionally high rate of in- 

' Urban : the " unmittelbaren Stadte " 41 in number, and the 1 1 larger towns in 
the Pfalz. 

^Rauchberg, " Der Zug nachder Stadt,"in Statistische Monatschrift (Vienna), 
xix, 127 (1893). 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



95 



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THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



crease in the urban population indicates a widespread move- 
ment from the country to the city. How long this move- 
ment has been in progress it is not easy to determine, owing 
to the scantiness of Austrian statistics prior to the recent 
model census. But from a multiplicity of sources of varying 
value, Table LII has been constructed. The civil popula- 
tion in the present territory of the kingdom of Austria is 
there given at different periods together with some data con- 
cerning the population of cities. ' The figures for towns of 
10,000 population and upwards are not thoroughly trust- 
worthy guides, but, as the following table will indicate, they 
are in agreement with other figures which are more accurate 
although less complete : 









Table LIII. 










Proportionate rates of increase. 










Cities of 






Vienna and 


17 leading 




Austria. 


10,000+. 


Vienna. 




suburbs. 


cities. = 


1800-21 . 


. 100 


106 


112 








1821-37 . . 


. 100 


232 


186 








1837-43 • • 


. 100 


298 


192 


1830-40 


262 


272 


1843-46 . . 


. 100 


456 


290 


1840-50 


.... 402 


377 


1846-57 . 


. 100 


1,071 


480 


1850-57 


.... 403 


388 


1857-69 . . 


. 100 


206 


253 


i8e7— 6q. ....... 


.... "XAX 


28s 


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Of 


1869-80 . . 


. 100 


563 


183 


1869-80 


•••• 339 


298 


1880-90 . . 


. 100 


425 


167 


1880-90 


.... 258 


318 



It is to be observed, first, that in all four classes of urban 
population in this table the rate of increase, compared with 
that for the entire country, is low during the earlier half of 
the century ; but it is constantly increasing and in the period 
1846—57 reaches its maximum. A variety of causes con- 
tributed to this result. The great famine of 1847 and 1848 
carried off thousands of Austrians, and, combined with the 
Hungarian revolt of 1848 and the political troubles at home, 
resulted in a serious loss of population, as shown by the 

^ Chiefly from Rauchberg's article, loc. cit.f xix, I38-4I* 
''Cf.TableLII, col. 8. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



97 



census of 1850.^ The famine naturally afifected most seri- 
ously the scattered population of the rural districts away 
from the transportation routes, while the shifting of popula- 
tion caused by military movements doubtless drew additional 
persons from the rural districts. But both these factors may 
be discounted, for the table also shows that the years 
1850-57, which exclude them, have a maximum rate for 
Greater Vienna and 17 of the principal cities. It is beyond 
question the influence of railway building which accounts 
for the shifting of population made manifest in 1857. The 
railway era fairly opened in 1840, but for some years 
brought advantage only, or chiefly, to Vienna. The de- 
velopment is set forth in the column headed " Vienna and 
suburbs," which is practically the Vienna created by law 
December 19, 1890. Compared with the general rate of in- 
crease for Austria, Vienna attained its highest rate in 
1840—50 and 1850-57, since which it has regularly declined. 
Vienna's high rate in 1840-50 acts decisively on that of the 
17 leading cities, but in the last decade they manifest an in- 
dependent growth, and one larger than Vienna's. This 
again may be referred to the influence of railways, for it was 
in the decade 1865-75 that the largest extensions were 
carried ouf 

^ Cf. Table LII, first and last columns; also Rauchberg, Die Bevolkerung 

Oesterreichs, p. 27, and diagram. 

"^ The following figures are from Neumann-Spallart's Uebersichten der Weltwirtk- 

schaft,2Xid Conrad's Hdwbh., iii, 214: 

Length of railways (kilometers) 
in Austro-Hungary. 

1830 121 

1840 475 

1845 ^'°58 

1850 2,240 

1855 2,829 

i860 , 5)i6o 

1865 6,397 

1870 9>76i 

1875 16,766 

1880 18,476 

1885 22,341 

1889 26,501 



98 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The apparent decrease of agglomeration in 1857-69 must 
be explained by a visitation of the cholera and the war with 
Prussia in 1866. Nearly all the cities of Bohemia, where the 
war was fought, show an unusually low rate of increase in 
1857-69.^ 

The effect of the different modes of reckoning in Table 
LIII appears in the proportionate rates for 1880-90 of the 
class of cities of 10,000+ and of a definite number of cities 
(17). Still, both show a very considerable tendency 
toward agglomeration in the last decade. But does agglo- 
meration in Austria mean concentration in a few great cities ? 

Table LIV. 
Showing the distribution of population. 
Number and population of Gemeinden. Proportions of total population. 

1800. ^843. 1890. 1800. 1843. 1880. 1890. 

Austria 12,600,000 47,438 17,073,231 58,891 23,895,413 100. 100. 100. 100. 

Under 2,000 46,71313,852,766 57,57816,128,205 ... 81. i 70.4 67.5 

Over 2,000 725 3,220,465 1,313 7>767,2o8 ... 18.9 29.6 32.5 

2,000-10,000 697 2,235,865 1,212 3,977,843 ... 13.1 16.8 16.7 

10,000-30,000 . 8,102,000 21 264,054 69 919,106 0.81 1.6 I 9 o $ 3-^ 

20,000-100,000. 5,217,000 5 235,606 27 962,836 0.93 1.4 ' '4. 

100,000-1- 1,232,000 2 484,942 5 1,907,423 2.63 2.8 4.6 8. 

AirrHORiTiEs. 

Compiled chiefly from Rauchberg's article already cited (Table LII.). The figures for 1800 are 
gathered from various statistical hand-books (Staatenkunde) of the early part of the century. 

It should be noticed that the figures for 1880-90 refer to the " actually present" (prtsanwesend) 
instead of the civil population, (cf. Table LII, Explanations.) 

In 1846 the city republic of Cracow was annexed, adding some 50,000 to the middle-sized cities 

It will be seen from Table LIV that the urban popu- 
lation (towns of 2,ooo-|-) increased from 18.9 per cent, of 
the total population in 1843 to 32.5 per cent, in 1890, and 
that while the increase was divided among the several classes 
of cities, a disproportionately large part fell to the " great 

^Cf. St. Mon.y-xxm, 138. It is possible that the urban population of 1857 is 
estimated too high in the tables, for in the census of 1857 the population of towrns 
is given on the basis of the entire township. If this is so, the rate for 1850-57 
would be somewhat reduced, and that for 1S57-69 increased. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



99 



21. 


16. 


23- 


16.1 


13.2 


i»3X3 


2.S" 


12. 


14. 


13- 


7- 


33. 


1.317 


2.173 


29. 


to. 


25 


23. 


18. 


1,460 


2,781 


19. 


14- 


20. 


14- 


17- 


1.340 


2,448 


22. 


SI- 


43 


38. 


22. 


1,680 


4,846 


45- 


66. 


66 


66. 


26. 


3,238 


13,260 


32. 


67. 


43 


"5. 


63. 


3.442 




6. 


5-7 


9 


2 8. 


7-9 


1^172 


1,508 



cities." While, however, the great cities are absorbing an 
ever increasing proportion of the population, it will be in- 
teresting to know whether the average great city grows 
more rapidly than the average small city, — whether Levas- 
seur's hypothesis regarding the attractive power of cities ac- 
cording to size holds good of Austria. The following table ^ 
shows roughly the percentages of increase in several groups 
of cities classified according to their population in 1 890 : 

Table LV. 

Increase from 
1,000. 
1831-40. 1841-50. 1851-57. 1858-69. 1870-80. 1880-90. 1870-90. 1831-90. 

Vienna 12.4 

Four " great cities " . . . . 15. 

Four " large cities " 5. 

Above nine chief cities. . . 12. 

Eight small cities 16. 

Vienna suburbs — 16 57. 

Prague suburbs — 9 

Austria 6.2 

Throughout the entire sixty years the eight small cities 
have grown more rapidly than the chief cities ; and of the 
nine chief cities, the four great cities (those of 100,000+ in 
1 890) have been outstripped by the smaller ones. Vienna's 
growth is exceeded by that of the small cities and middle- 
sized cities. 

But account has to be taken of extra-municipal or 
suburban growth, and the table shows that of the classes of 
towns, the suburbs of Vienna and Prague have had the most 
rapid growth. It is therefore necessary to compute the 
population of the city and suburbs as an industrial unit. In 
Table LIII, it has already been seen that the enlarged 

* Based on Table LII. The percentages of 185 1-7 and 1858-69 have, for the 
sake of comparison, been reduced to ten year periods, .... The suburbs of 

Prague increased in population from 18,000 in 1840 to 172,000 in 1890 

The ratios for Vienna are based on the ancient limits of the city; making the 
present limits the basis for 1830 and 1869, as well as 1890, the ratios in the last 
two columns would be 1,550 and 3,728 instead of 1,313 and 2,512. 

LcFC. 



lOO THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Vienna outstripped the other cities in every decade except 
1830-40 and 1880-90.^ A more complete analysis is made in 

Table LVI. 

1857. i8go. Increase per cent. 

Vienna (present limits) 593.000 1,341,900 126 

Eight cities so.ooo-f in 1890 .... 481,000 785,700 63 

Twenty cities, 20,000-50,000 in 

1890 295,000 634,600 115 

Three suburbs of Prague 20,000-)-. 11,000 108,000 873 

Total cities of 20,000-)- in 1890. 1,380,000 2,870,200 108 
Eight large cities including 

suburbs 513,000 937>900 83 

Eight selected small cities 71,000 181,300 154 

These figures show that the eight smaller cities heretofore 
considered are not quite typical of their class, for in the 
period 1857-90 they increased 154 per cent., and the class 
20,000-50,000 (averaging about the same in population) 
only 115 per cent. The rank of the cities as regards growth 
is now: Vienna, 126; middle-sized cities, 115; large cities, 
83 ; Austria 30. In the last decade, as we have seen in Table 
LV, the four great cities in addition to Vienna increased at 
a somewhat higher rate than the eight small cities which in 
turn have grown more rapidly than their class ; so that the 
present tendency in Austria seems to be toward centraliza- 
tion, although not so marked as in France. 

VI. HUNGARY. 

In Hungary the mediaeval distinction between town and 
country, based chiefly on political status, still holds good, 
and the statistical distinction would in any event be invali- 
dated for the smaller classes of towns on account of their 
unusual extent of territory. In Hungary the township or 
primary political unit has an average area of 22 square 

• The diminished rate of increase in the Vienna suburbs in 1880-90 is due to 
the spread of population into new territory; and indeed these figures include only 
about two-thirds of all the suburban inhabitants taken into the city in 1890. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



lOI 



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102 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

kilometres, while in Austria it is 1 1 and in Germany 7. 
Obviously, such a township might contain a population of 
more than 2,000, which should be so scattered as to deprive 
it of any urban character. The Hungarian statistics, there- 
fore, regard as urban the population of 131 towns and cities 
possessing special political privileges.^ Twenty-five of the 
cities are known as "towns with municipal charters" {Stddte 
mit Municipium), and contain in each case upwards of 
10,000 inhabitants, their average population being, in 1880, 
44,513, and in 1890, 53,243. They appear in Table LVII 
as " free cities " and will represent the middle-sized cities. 
The other class of cities embraced in the urban population 
consists of the towns with magistrate appointed by the crown 
{Stadte mit geordnetem Magistral), numbering 106 in 1890 
and 118 in 1880; their average population in 1880 was 
8,743, and in 1890, 10,550. They will represent the class of 
smaller cities and appear in the table under that heading. 

These two groups together may be taken as constituting 
the urban population of Hungary. In the forty years 
1850-90, they have increased much more rapidly than the 
rural remainder. Indeed, in one period (1869-80), which 
includes years of severe famine, the rural population actually 
declined. In the other periods its rate was subject to great 
fluctuations, while the cities progressed at a more uniform 
rate. As the periods covered by the percentages in Table 
LVII are not of equal length, it is necessary to compute the 
percentage increase per annum, thus : 

Table LVIII. 
Yearly average increase. 

Hungary. 131 cities. 

1850-57 63 2.075 

1858-69 98 1.235 

1870-80 II 1.044 

1881-90 68 1-447 

* The justification of this classification is stated in the census of 1890, Part I., 
p. 66* (Cf. Table LVII for full title of the census). 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



103 



It is here shown that the most rapid urban growth took 
place in the years 1850-7, as is the case in Austria. And 
while the figures are not at hand to prove it, it may well be 
surmised that this period of urban expansion began, as in 
Austria, in 1840-50. Thus the first real impetus to the 
growth of the capital city Budapest came in 1840; ^ between 
1830 and 1840 its population was stationary, so that be- 
tween 1840 and 1850 its growth was fully 50 per cent., as 
may be observed in Table LVII, and this is a higher rate 
than has since obtained. But Budapest's development then 
was exceptional, and it apparently had little influence on the 
rate of growth of the seven leading cities (those now exceed- 
ing 50,000 population), in which the annual average 
(geometrical) increase was 

1800-20 72 ca 

1820-31 ' 1 .96 ca 

1831-50 I.2I ca 

1850-57 2.446 

1857-69 1.617 

1869-80 1.878 

1880-90 2.239 

These figures are not of course entirely trustworthy, but 
they indicate that the growth of cities, while increasing from 
year to year, has not reached the high rate attained in 
1850-7, which may be attributed in part to political and 
social causes, but chiefly to the establishment of railway 
communication between Budapest and the country popula- 
tion. 

Considerable interest attaches to the relative rates of in- 
crease of large and small cities. In Hungary there is not 
the slightest doubt that the movement has been toward con- 
centration and centralization. Even France gave no more 

' Korosi, Die Hauptstadt Budapest in 1881, Heft I. 



I04 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Striking example than the following, which indicates the 
total increase per cent, in 1850-90: 

1. Buda-Pest 214-33 

2. Seven large cities I20.cx3 

3. Free cities 98.78 

4. Small cities 50-07 

5. Rural districts 25.10 

Hungary 30.88 

6. Urban (cols. 4 and 5) 73-13 

An examination of the table shows that this is the order 
of growth in every period, without exception, since \%^o. 
And as the number of cities is in each case nearly constant, 
the evidence is conclusive that places are growing at a rate 
proportionate to their size. 

But the cities of Hungary are still too small for these in- 
dications of concentration to excite alarm. Budapest, the 
only city that has reached the 100,000+ class, constitutes 
but 3.2 per cent, of the Hungarian population. And the 
entire urban population is relatively small, notwithstanding 
the inclusion of towns which have a considerable population 
residing in extended territory under rural rather than urban 
conditions, as shown by 

Table LIX. 

Growth of cities in Hungary. 
1800-1808. 1850. 1890. 

Per Per Per 

No. Pop. Cent. No. Pop. Cent. No. Pop. Cent. 

100,000+ o o I 156,506 1.35 I 491.938 3-23 

20,000-100,000. 6 228,000 2.31 12 369,996 3.2 37 1,218,000 8.03 
10,000-20,000.. 24 300,000 3,04 .. (525,000 4.5) 67 961,520 6.34 

Total 10,000+ 30 528,0005.35 ..(1,050,000 9.1) 1052,671,458 17.6 

Total 2,000+ 4357.413.38749- 

Authorities. 
As in Table LVII for 1850 and 1890. The cities of 10,000-20,000 are estimated, as it is impossi- 
ble to distinguish what is urban population in townships the size of those in Hungary. If the 
urban papulation be defined as that resident in towns of 2,000+, Hungary would have, in 1890, a 
percentage of 49, which is absurd. The real urban population of Hungary is comprised in the 
131 cities of Table LVII, and amounts to 16.1 per cent, of the entire population. The figures 
above for 1880-08 are derived from various hand-books of " Staatenkunde." 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



105 



VII. RUSSIA. 

The giant-nations that will struggle for world-supremacy 
in the twentieth century are the United States, the British 
Empire and Russia. In population, Russia ranks second, 
and if the vigor of an army depends upon a numerous 
peasantry, Russia may lay claim to the first place ; for 
scarcely twelve per cent, of the Russian population dwell in 
"men-consuming" cities. It is open to doubt, however, 
whether Russia with its immense numbers of agriculturists, 
or the United States and Britain, with their centres of 
enlightenment and business enterprise, would be the more 
formidable military power. 

Russia has made more progress in the manufacturing in- 
dustries than is commonly supposed. It now imports but a 
small percentage of its woolen and cotton goods, and in all 
the fundamental industries except iron and steel is nearly as 
self-containing as the United States.^ The factory industries 
are concentrated mainly in Poland and the region about 
Moscow, and in those districts a considerable urban popula- 
tion is found, which is rapidly growing. Perhaps the most 
extreme instance is the Polish city of Lodz, the " Manchester 
of Russia," which in i860 had 31,500 inhabitants and in 
1897, 314,780, a growth that would be regarded as phenom- 
enal even in Artierica. 

But the factory system has to struggle against many dis- 
advantages in Russia. Its great competitor, household or 
domestic industry, has almost entirely succumbed in the 
countries of the Western world ; but in Russia, the winters 
"are so long and severe that the agricultural population is 
largely left without work and obliged to follow other pur- 
suits. Most of the peasants carry on manufacturing industry 
in their homes, but in some of the larger villages and pro- 

'Cf. The Industries of Russia (5 vols., St. Petersburg, 1893), * series of gov- 
emmental publications for the World's Fair. Translated by John M. Crawford. 



I06 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

vincial cities, they go into factories, which are thus either 
shut during the summer or kept in operation with a limited 
number of workmen. It is estimated that " at least half of 
the urban population are peasants coming and going, seek- 
ing and losing occupation." ^ 

In 1886, the Russian Empire contained 555,990 settle- 
ments, of which 1,281 had municipal institutions. Their 
aggregate population is taken as the urban population ; this 
mediaeval distinction appearing to be substantially equiva- 
lent to the statistical limit of 2,000 population.^ The pre- 
liminary results of the census of 18973 show the distribution 
of the urban population to be as follows : 

Table LX. 

Total Percentage of urban 

population. In towns. pop. in total. 

Russia proper 94,215,415 11,830,546 12.5 

Poland 9.455»943 2,059,340 21.8 

Caucasus 9,248,695 996,248 10.8 

Siberia 5,727,090 462,182 8.1 

Central Asia 7,721,684 932,662 12.1 

Total 126,368,827 16,280,978 12.9 

Finland 2,527,801 est. [250,100] 10. 

The Empire 1 28,896,628 1 6,5 3 1 ,000 12.8 

Thus it appears that even in the most densely populated 
province of the Empire (Poland), the urban population con- 
stitutes only 21.8 per cent, of the total. 

Considering the fact that serfdom was abolished only in 
1 861, and that the era of industrialism scarcely opened be- 
fore the seventies, it is to be expected that the growth of the 
urban population has been comparatively recent. The sta- 
tistics are scanty and not thoroughly trustworthy, for it was 
not until February 9, 1897, that a general census was taken of 

^ Crawford, op. cit., iii, 59. 

* While over 300 of the towns contained less than 2,000 inhabitants, their aggregate 
population is almost infinitesimal compared with the total. Cf . Tables LXIII, LXI. 
» For title, see Table LXI. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



107 



the Empire, in the modern sense of the word. The earlier 
statistics of population rest on partial enumerations of males 
for military and fiscal purposes, combined with the records 
of births and deaths. Nevertheless, these estimates have 
some value, as is shown by the fact that the estimated popu- 
lation in 1895 was 129,545,000, as compared with an enum- 
erated population at the beginning of 1897 of 129,000,000.^ 
The growth of population as calculated by the Central 
Commission in the " Revisions " and subsequent estimates, 
and the aggregate population of towns as computed by the 
writer from the best authorities, are shown in 

Table LXI. 



Year. 


Authority. 


Pop. of Russia. 


Cities. 


Authority. 


Percentage 
in cities. 


1722.... 


ist Revision ' 


14,000,000 


2,279,412 

2,850,926 

3,521,052 

4.745,632 

5,684,000'' 

9,064,039 

13,947,825 
13.972,643 
16,280,978 


Storch 

Herman 

v. Olberg .... 

Koppen 

v. Olberg .... 

Jannasch .... 

Annuaire .... 
Kalendar .... 
P. R 


6.5 
7- 
7- 

8.75 
8.96 
10.66 


1796. . . . 

1811 

1815.... 


5th Revision 

6th Revision 

7th Revision 


36,000,000 
41,000,000 
45,000,000 


183s-... 
1838.... 

1856.... 
1870 


8th Revision 


59,000,000 

59,042,866 

K 71,243,616 

\ 63,862,000'' 

85,938.504 \ 

85,018,082 s 
108,787,235 
115,989,443 
126,368,827 


Official tables 

I Mitteilungen '82 . . 


1885.... 

1890 

1897.... 




12 8 






P R 


i2.g 







^ The several " Revisions " may be found in Schnitzler, L' Empire des Tsars, ii, 107. The 
other authorities mentioned are as follows: 

Annuaire Statistique de la Russie, 1884-5. Publication du'Comite Central de Statistique, 
Ministere de I'Interieur. St. Petersburg, 1887 (in Russian and French!. 

Statistical Tables o/the Russian Empire, 1856. (Pub. in Russian, by the Statistical Central 
Com., Min. of Interior, St. Petersburg), 1858. 

German trans, of above by E. v. Olberg, Berlin, 1859. 

St. Petersburger Kalendar (German I. 

Statistische und andere wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus Russlana, 1868-83. St. Peters- 
burg. 

¥. yon ']Lo^\)en, Russland's Gesamtntbevdlkerungim yahre xZ-i^. 

H. Storch, Hist, statistische Gemalde des russ. Reiches. Riga-Leipzig, i793-i8o3._ 8 vols. 

Thaddaus Bulgarius, Russland: Statistik. German trans, by von Brackel. Riga-Leipzig. 1839. 

Fr. Fred. W. von Reden, Das Kaiserreick Russland. Berlin, Posen and Bromberg, 1843. 

A. von Buschen, Bevolkerung des russ. Kaiserreichs. Gotha, 1862. 

Renseignemefits sur la population de Finlande. Helsingfors, 1869. (By the chief of the 
Bureau of Statistics.) 

Jannasch, in Zeitsckrift des konigl. preus. statis. Bureaus, 1878, p. 283. 

Premier Recensement general de la population de F Empire de Russie, 1897. Livraison i, 
pp. 27-29. The foregoing figures exclude Finland. In Livraison 2, the urban population was 
corrected to read 16,504,086. 

''■ Exclusive of Poland, Finland and Turkestan. 

*The provisional results of the 1897 census may be found in Statesman's Year 
Book and Almanac de Gotha, 1898, and J. of St. Soc. 60: 774-5 (Dec, 1897). 



io8 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The process of agglomeration in, Russia is still slow, even 
though it has been quickened in the most recent decades, 
The apparent decline in 1885-90 is, however, likely to be 
due to some deficiency in the statistics. While Russia has 
important and rapidly growing " great cities," the rural popu- 
lation also increases so rapidly as to neutralize urban growth. 
This will appear from the following statistics of population of 
the thirteen cities that in 1885 ranked as " great cities " ( 100,- 
000-f-) ; the figures, which are of course little better than esti- 
mates, are based chiefly on the authorities of Table LXI: 









Table LXII. 












Percent- 


Per cent. 






Percent- 


Per cent 




Russian 


age in- 


of total 




French 


age in- 


of total 


Year. 


Cities. 


crease. 


pop. 


Year. 


Cities. 1 


crease. 


pop. 


1815-25. 


827,000 


.. 


1.8 


182I 


. 1,423,082 


.. 


4.6 


1856.... 


• 1,583.300 


94 


2.2 


1856.... 


. 2,494,089 


75 


6.9 


1870 


2,383,000 


SO 


2.8 


1872 


. 3,531,701 


53 


9.8 


1885.... 


• 3,541,865 


68 


3-2 


1886.... 


. 4,190,958 


10 


12.0 


1897.... 


• 4,641,395 


31 


3.6 


1896.... 


• 4,793,491 


16 


12.4 



While the Russian cities have grown rapidly, more so than 
the French, they have not greatly distanced the rural popu- 
lation, and consequently the part they play in the national 
life is relatively small. In the period 1885-97 the increase 
of the great cities was 31, that of Russia 19 per cent., the 
ratio of the former to the latter being 160 to 100. While 
this is a somewhat lower rate of concentration than prevails 
in some other countries, it shows that Russia has entered 
the circle of " Capitalism." The general result for the cen- 
tury is given in 



^The 12 principal cities (ioo,ooo-|-) in 1891. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



Table LXIII. 



109 



Towns. 1820. 1856. 1885. 

No- Pop. ?«„■;, No. Pop. lZ^_ No. Pop. l^^ 

100,000+ 3 S9SiOoo 1-4 4 1,123,698 1.6 13 3.541.865 3.2 

30,000 — 100,000 17 493,000 i.o 42 1,407,266 1.9 116 4,301,508 4.0 

10,000—20,000 45 571,000 1.39 41, 250,178 1.8 164 2,293,344 2.1 

Total.. 10,000+.. 65 1,659,000 3.7 140 3,781,142 5.3 293 10,136,717 9.3 

a,ooo — 10,000 656 3,215,878 3.0 

Total... 2,000+ 949 13,352,59s 13.3 

Russia 45,000,000 100 71,200,000 100 108,800,000 100 

So far as these figures have value, they indicate that the 
tendency in Russia is towards the growth of middle-sized 
cities (20,000-100,000) rather than great cities. But too 
much weight should not be attached to so small percentages.^ 

VIII. SWEDEN. 

The following percentages, being the proportion of the 
Swedish population residing, at the various censuses, in the 
19 cities that had more than 10,000 inhabitants each in 1890, 
show that the movement toward the cities did not begin 
until about 1850: 

1805 6.3 

1810 6.1 

1820 6.4 

1830 6.4 

1840 6.3 

1850 6.7 

i860 7.6 

1870 9.05 

1880 10.7 

1890 13.7 

The same inference may be made from Table LXIV, 
where the term urban is used in the legal sense, over 40 
"towns " having in 1890 less than 2,000 inhabitants. Stock- 

^ According to the preliminary results of the census of 1897, Russia contained 
19 cities of the first class (100,0004-). with an aggregate population of 5,718,738, 
or 4.43 per cent, of the total population of the Empire (exclusive of Finland). 



no 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



holm since 1850 has been gaining on the rest of the popula- 
tion. 







Table LXIV, 


















Proportion 


No. of 


Stockholm 


Year. 


Population. 


Rural. 


Urban. 


Rural. 


Urban. 


Towns. 


Percentage 


1805.. 


. 2,412,772 


2,180,715 


232,057 


90.39 


9.61 


86 


3.01 


1810... 


• 2,377»85i 


2,155,116 


222,735 


90.63 


9.37 


86 


2.75 


1815.. 


. 2,465,066 


2,223,894 


241,172 


90.18 


9.82 


.. 


2.96 


1820.. 


. 2,584,690 


2,330,798 


253.892 


90.18 


9.82 


86 


2.93 


1830... 


. 2,888,082 


2,607,124 


280,958 


90.27 


9-73 




2.79 


1840.. 


. 3.138,887 


2,835,204 


303.683 


90.33 


9.67 




2.68 


1850... 


• 3.482,541 


3,131,463 


35^078 


89.91 


10.09 




2.67 


i860.. 


• 3.859.728 


3,425,209 


434,519 


88.74 


11.26 




2.90 


1870.. 


. 4,168,525 


3,628,876 


539.649 


87.05 


12.95 




3.27 


1880.. 


. 4,565.668 


3.875.237 


690,431 


84.88 


15.12 


90 


3-70 


1890... 


. 4,784,981 


3,885,283 


899,698 


81.20 


18.80 


92 


5-15 



It is worth while noting that the urban population failed 
to maintain its own for several decades early in the century, 
and that Stockholm itself participated in the relative decline. 
Since 1840, the urban population has had a rapid growth, as 
Stockholm has had since 1850. 

The difference between the legal or official urban popula- 
tion, and the statistical one is brought out in the following 
table : 



1805. 

No. Pop. 

100,000+ o 

30,000-100,000 I 73)652 

10,000-20,000 2 23,043 

Total 10,000 + 3 95,695 

3,000-10,000 30 74,371 

Total 2,000+ 23 170,066 

" urban (legal) . . 86 232,057 



Table LXV. 


1 












185 


D. 




1890. 


Per cent. 




Per cent. 




Per cent. 


of total. 


No. 


Pop. 


of total. 


No, 


Pop. of total. 











3 


351,111 7.3 


3.0 


3 


"9.IS4 


3.4 


6 


167,348 3-S 


0.9 


3 


44,100 


1-3 


11 


142,638 2.9 


3-9 


5 


163,254 


4.7 


19 


661,097 ^3-74 


3.1 








41 


199.358 4-3I 


7.0 








60 


860,455 18. 


9.6 








92 


899,698 18.8 



^ Most of the necessary data for the study uf the subject may be found in the 
census of 1890; Bidrag till Sveriges officiele Staiistik. Befolknings-Statistik. 
Nyfolgd I., 2, etc. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



III 



IX. NORWAY. 

The urban and rural growth in Norway appears in the fol- 
lowing decimal rates of increase : ^ 

Table LXVI. 

Proportion of Urban in 
Rural. Urban. Christiania. loo inhabitants. 

180I-15 0.3 I.I 12.3 180I 10.7 

1815-25 17.7 25.9 52.8 1815 10.7 

1825-35 13.7 13.0 32.2 1825 II.3 

1835-45 9.9 21.7 35.8 1835 II.3 

1845-55 10.5 24.1 25.0 1845 12.3 

1855-65 II.6 31.0 39.0 1855 13.6 

1865-75 3.2 24.8 36.0 1865 15.6 

1875-91 3.1 42.6 96.0'' 1875 18.3 

1891 23.7 

1801-91 93.4 406.7 1170.0 

Table LXVII. 

Year. Norway. Rural. Urban. Christiania. 

1 801 883,038 789*469 93.569 11.923 

1815 886,374 791.741 94.633 13.586 

1825 1,051,318 932,219 119.099 20,759 

1835 1,194,827 1,060,282 134.545 24,445 

1845 1,328,471 1,164,745 163,726 33,177 

1855... . 1,490,047 1,286,782 203,265 41,266 

1865 1,701,756 1,435,464 266,292 57.382 

1875 1,813,424 1,481,026 332,398 76,866 

1891 2,000,917 1,526,788 474.129 151.239* 

Thus even in agricultural Norway the cities are growing 
rapidly, while the rural population has in the last quarter- 
century come almost to a standstill. The concentration 
since 1865 has been enormous. That the urban growth is 



1 Calculated on statistics given in Statisiik Aarbogfor Kongeriget Norge, 1893. 
The distinction between urban and rural is still the mediaeval one; in 1801 out 
of an " urban " population of 93,569, but 28,854 lived in towns of 10,000 or more, 
and 70,472 in towns of at least 2,000. In 1890, however, out of an urban popu- 
lation of 474,129, all but 30,570 lived in towns of 2,000 and more. 

' Due to annexation of suburbs. 



112 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

due mainly to the larger towns and cities, the following 
table will demonstrate : 

Table LXVIII.i 

1801. 1845. 1891. 

Per Per Per 

No. Pop. cent. No. Pop. cent. No. Pop. cent. 

100,000+ o o I 151,239 7'S6 

30,000-100,000 o 2 55.518 4.2 4 124,335 6.22 

10,000-20,000 2 28,854 3-27 I 14,778 I.I 5 58,123 2,90 

2,000-10,000 10 41,618 4.7 17 68,154 5.1 24 109,862 S.49 

Under 2,000 40 23,097 2.7 36 25,276 1.8 27 30,570 1.53 

Total urban 52 93,569 10.7 56 163,726 12.3 61 474,129 23.70 

2,000+ . 12 70,472 7.9 20 138,450 10.4 34 H43,559 22.17 

10,000+ 2 28,854 3.27 3 70,296 5.3 10 333,697 16.68 



X. DENMARK. 

The growth of the various categories of population is dis- 
played in the following table. In order to show the effect 
on classification of the modern growth of suburbs, two col- 
umns are given for the urban and rural classes ; in the first 
column the urban population includes Copenhagen with all 
its suburbs and also the Handehplader (seaports) ; in the 
second column the Handehplader are included in the rural 
population and also the suburbs of Copenhagen, except 
Frederiksburg, which is included in " Provincial towns." 

Table LXIX. 
Average annual increase in 10,000 of mean population.'' 

1834-40. 1850-60. 1870-80. 1880-90. Population 1890. 

Denmark 84 84 iii iii 102 102 99 99 2,172,380 

Rural 85 86 92 97 68 77 21 38 1,434,230 1,508,814 

Urban 8i 79 181 162 197 180 273255 738,150 663,566 

Copenhagen 51 46 156126 247209 323291 375,719 312,859 

Provincial Towns, in 112 201 192 155157 223224 362431 350,707 

^ For index to the Norwegian censuses, cf. Fortegnehe over Norges officielle 
Statistik mit Flere Statistiske Vaerker, 1828-30. June, 1889. The following 
have been most used : N'orges officielle Statistik, Aeldre Raekke C, No. I (cen- 
suses of 1865 and 1875, *"^ *^^° ^^ 1801-25); Folkemaengdens Bevaegelse i 
Aarene 1856-65. Christiania, 1868-90. 

^Cf. Danish censuses of 1890 and 1840. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



113 



From this it appears that early in the century suburban 
growth was relatively unimportant ; the inclusion or exclu- 
sion of suburbs does not greatly effect the rural or urban 
rate, as may be seen by comparing the town columns for the 
period 1834-40. But in 1880-90, it makes a considerable 
difference where the suburbs are placed; without them, 
Copenhagen has an annual increase of 2.91 per cent., with 
them 3.23. 

In the period of 1834-40, the rural increase was larger 
than the urban, which was depressed by the low rate for 
Copenhagen ; the other towns and cities had the maximum 
rate. In 1850-60 the urban rate exceeded the rural, but the 
provincial towns still lead Copenhagen, In 1 870-80 and 
1880-90 there has been a great falling off in the rural rate 
of growth, while the urban rate has been correspondingly 
increased, and Copenhagen has forged way ahead of the 
other cities. Additional information necessary to this study 
is given in Tables LXX, LXXI, LXXII. 

Table LXX. 

Urban population. Copenhagen^ 
Denmark. Actual. ^ of total, per cent, of total. 

1801 929,cxx) 194,431 20.9 10.9 

1834 1,223,797 251,502 20.5 9.7 

1840 1,289,075 266,822 20.7 9.6 

i860 1,608,362 381,662 23.7 10.4 

1870 1,784,741 450,241 25.2 II.5 

1880 1,969,039 563,930 28.6 13.9 

1890 2,172,380 738,150 34-0 17.3 

Table LXXI. 

Number of Towns and Proportion of Urban Population in bach Class. 

1801. 1840. i860. 1880. 1890. 

i, f ic ^ ^, 

Copenhagen i 5I>9 i 46.1 i 44.0 i 48.5 i 50.9 

10,000-40,000 . . . . o o o o 3 14.1 5 15.2 7 18.7 

2,000-10,000 9 18.5 24 34.8 31 32.6 39 28.8 42 25.6 

Under 2,000 62 29.6 46 19,1 39 9.3 29 7.5 23 4.8 

Total 72100.0 71 loo.o 74 loo.o 74 loo.o 73 loo.o 



114 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 







Table LXXII. 








1801. 




1840. 


1890. 




100,000+ 


I 100,975 


10.9 


I 123,123 9.6 


I 375.719 


17-3 


20,000-100,000 . 


. 


... 





2 63,574 


2.9 


10,000-20,000 . . 


. 


... 





5 74,528 


3-4 


Total 1 0,000 -f- . . 


• I 100,975 


10.9 


I 123,123 9.6 


8 513.821 


23.6 


Total 2,000 H 


10 136,967 


14.8 


25 215,962 16.8 


50 702,679 


32.4 


Total "Urban". 


• •• 194.431 


20.9 


.. 266,822 20.7 


•• 738.150 


34.0 



Authorities. 
The principal source of information for all the tables is the Danish census of 
1890: Danmarks Statistik, Statistik Tabelvaerk, fjerde Raekke, Litra ^, Nr 
8a, Hovedresultaterne af Folketaellingen i Kongeriget Danmark den iste Feb., 
i8go. Udgivet of det statistiske Bureau, Kjobenhavn, 1894. The census of 1840 
( Tabelvaerkf Siette Haefte) has also been used to a considerable extent. 

XI. THE NETHERLANDS. 

The tendency toward agglomeration in the Netherlands is 
first noticeable about 1850; up to that time the rural popu- 
lation increased more rapidly than the urban. City growth 
has increased since 1850, and in the last decade was unpre- 
cedented, as shown in 

Table LXXIII. 









Increase 


per 10,000 


by decades.^ 




Increase of Population from 1829.1 
TotaL Urban.2 Rural. 








Ratio of urban to 




General. 


Urban. 


* Rural. 


general increase. 


1829. 


. . . 100. 100. 100. 










1839. 


. . . 109.46 109.02 109.60 


945 


908 


962 


ii 


1849. 


. .. 116.97 » 15-42 117.50 


686 


591 


728 


86 


1859. 


. .. 126.62 126.84 126.54 


825 


995 


751 


120 


1869. 


... 136.97 140.40 135-76 


817 


947 


761 


116 


1879- 


... 153.54 167.52 148.69 


1210 


1725 


979 


143 


1889. 


. .. 172.62 209.82 159.73 


1240 


2400 




193 



^ Overzicht von de Uitkomsten bewerkt door de Centrale Commissie voor de 
Statistik, 1893. 

^As urban is regarded the population at each census of the 21 Gemeenten 
(communes) whose population exceeded 20,000 in 1889. 

' Uitkomsten derzerde tienjarige Volkstelling in het Konigrijk der Nederlanden, 
31 Dec, 1879. 's. Gravenhage, 1881; Resume statistique pour la Royaume des 
Pays-Bas 1850-83, published by La Societe de Statistique des Pays Bas, Le 
Haye, 1884. 

* As urban is here regarded the population of 34 communes which severally had 
10,000 4- population in 1859. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 1 1 5 

The rapid increase in the urban population since 1869 is 
very largely due to the growth of the great cities, Amster- 
dam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Hence, in the Netherlands 
there exists a considerable concentration of the agglomerated 
population. The changes that have taken place in the dis- 
tribution of population are shown in Table LXXIV. A dif- 
ficulty with Dutch urban statistics is that they usually adopt 
as the unit the township {Gemeente), which includes a con- 
siderable rural population, owing to its territorial extent. 
The difference between the township population and the true 
urban population is brought out in the last two columns of 

Table LXXIV. 

Population of the Cities. 

1795. 1829. 1849. 1889. 1889. 

100,000+ 217,024 202,364 224,035 766,728 750,763 

20,000-100,000.. 242,910 324,168 438,980 644,856 565,700 

10,000-20,000... 94,986 151,517 221,919 527,899 187,400 

Total 10,000+. 554,920 678,049 884,938 1,939.483 1,503.900 

Holland 1,880,463 2,613,487 3,056,879 4,511,415 4,474,461 

Number of cities and percentages in total population. 

100,000+ I II.5 I 7.7 I 7.3 3 17.0 3 16.6 

20,000-100,000... 9 13.0 9 12.4 II 14.4 18 14.3 i6 12.7 

10,000-20,000... 7 5.0 n 5.9 16 7.3 .. II. 7 15 4.2 

Total 10,000 -I — 17 29.5 21 26.0 28 29.0 .. 43.0 ^^ 33.5 

Sources. — Compiled from the authorities of Table LXIII, except the last column, which is 
based on Supan for the cities, and for Holland the figures denote the " actually present" popula- 
tion. 

XII. BELGIUM. 

In Belgium the line between urban and rural population is 
drawn at 5,000. The growth of the urban population since 
1846 is shown in 



Il6 THE GROWTH OF en lES 

Table LXXV.' 

Urban. 
Belgium. Rural. No. of Per cent, 

places. PoP-'at'on- of total. 

1846 4.337.196 2,921,329 112 1,415,867 32.6 

1856 4.529.461 2,952,079 1 18 1,577,382 34.8 

1866 4.827,833 3.046460 131 1.781,373 36-9 

1880 5.520,009 3,143.232 166 2,376,777 43.1 

1890 6,069,321 3.174.627 191 2,894,694 47.7 

In Belgium the tendency toward agglomeration has ex- 
isted from the earliest date of the records, but it is more 
marked in recent years. The urban population, moreover, 
is largely concentrated in a few great cities and their sub- 
urbs. Table LXXVI indicates the importance of the sub- 
urbs of Brussels and Antwerp in any classification of the 
urban population. While the totals remain about the same, 
the distribution between large and small cities is vastly dif- 
ferent when the suburbs of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent are 
separately treated : 

Table LXXVI. 
1802-15. 1846. 1890. 

Estimates. Exclusive Inclusive Exclusive Inclusive 

of suburbs. of suburbs. 

Brussels 66,297 123,874 188,458 176,138 465,517 

Antwerp 56,318 88,487 97>94S 224,012 268,397 

Ghent 55>i6z 102,297 105,894 148,739 171,927 

100,000+ o 2 226,851 2 294,352 4 696,539 •• 1,053,501 

20,000-100,000 5 261,408 XI 415,875 II 425,336 25 826,210 .. 525,684 

10,000-20,000 II 145,135 18 234,224 14 181,131 44 573,687 .. 526,251 

Total 10,000 -\ 16 406,543 31 876,950 27 900,819 73 2,096,436 61 2,105,436 

Percentage of population of Belgium. 

100,000+ o 5.2 6.8 11.4 17.4 

30,000-100,000 8.7 9.6 9.8 13.7 8.7 

10,000-30,000' 4.8 5.4 4.2 9.4 8-7 

Total 10,000 + 13.5 20.2 20.8 34.5 34.8 

Sources — Recensement de i8qo, and Supan. For 1800 the estimates are compiled from Hassel, 
1809; the population of Belgium was then estimated at 3,411,082, but it included parts of Luxem- 
burg and Limburg. afterward added to Holland; without them the population may be roughly 
estimated at 3,000,000. 

"^ Statistique de la Belgique, Ricensentetit general du ji Dec., i8go, Tome I.. 
p. XV. Brussels, 1893. For 1846 and 1856 the population is defait; for 1866, 
1880, 1890, de droit. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



117 



XIII. SWITZERLAND. 

Even in the little agricultural republic there has been in 
the present century a very noticeable tendency toward ag- 
glomeration. Compared with the entire population, the ag- 
gregate population at each census of the fifteen principal 
towns of 1888 (/. e., those of 1 0,000+ )has increased very 
rapidly : 

Switzerland. Percentage in 15 towns. 

1850 2,392,740 9.4 

i860 2,510,494 II.4 

1870 2,655,001 12.8 

1880 2,831,787 14.5 

1888 2,917,754 16.5 

The periods 1850-60 and 1 880-1 888 show large gains for 
the towns. The urban growth is indeed for the most part in 
the larger towns, as appears trom 

Table LXXVII. 

1822. 1850. x888. 

Per Per Per 

cent. cent. cent. 

No. Pop. of total. No. Pop. of total. No. Pop. of total. 

20,000-100,000.. I 24,600 1.3 4 125,080 5.2 8 384,360 13.2 

10,000-20,000... 4 54,300 3.0 4 51,048 2.1 7 96,028 3.3 

Total lOjOOoH — 5 78,900 4.3 8 176,128 7.3 15 480,388 16.5 

Switzerland 1,855,300 

Total 5,000+ •• • II 120,000 6.5 28301,538 12.7 52 726,060 24.7 
Sources. — Sckweizerische Statistik, Die Ergebnisse der Eidgetidssischen Volkszahlung 
vom I Dez. l8S8. (Esp. Lieferungen 84, 88, 97) ; M. Wirth, Statistik der Sckweiz, Zurich, 
1871-3; S. Franscini, Neue Statistik der Sckweiz, Bern, 1848; Hassel, 1822. 

XIV. ITALY. 

Like Germany, Italy is a new nation with few statistics of 
the national dominion, and it is very difficult to obtain sta- 
tistics concerning the urban population prior to 1861. No 
census has been taken since 1881. 

In Italy the mass of the population dwells in small towns ; 
even the agriculturists dwell in villages and go out to their 



1 1 8 THE GEO WTH OF CITIES 

work in the fields. The agglomerated population is there- 
fore comparatively large. Hence, it is customary in Italy to 
reckon with the urban population only the centri of 6,000 or 
more inhabitants ; while the smaller centri, the casali or vil- 
lages, and the scattered population are all combined in the 
rural population. The percentages since 1861 were as fol- 
lows: 

Table LXXVIII.» 

1861. 1871. 1881. 

Urban ..(Centri of 6,000 -|-) 25.17 24.93 27.02 

( Centri of 6,000 — 42.84 49*37 45-68 

"'^ ' \ Scattered pop 31-99 25.70 27.30 

100. 100. 100. 

Italy's urban percentage therefore appears to be about 25, 
which is also the percentage of population dwelling in capo- 
luoghi, or head communes of provinces and districts {circon- 
dari) in 1881 — 7,082, 163 in a total population of 28,459,628. 
The urban population is apparently increasing but slowly ; 
in the larger cities however there is a constant growth : 

Table LXXIX. 

Agglomerated Population. 

Towns. 1S71. 1881. 

Under 2,000 43«59 40.25 

2,000-6,000 22.86 22.59 

6,000-8,000 5.12 5.30 

8,000-20,000 13-13 13-56 

20,000-100,000 7.23 8.76 

100,000-1- 8.07 9,54 

100.00 100.00 

And throughout the century there can be traced a tendency 
to concentrate in the great cities : 

' Censimento della Populazione del Regno d'' Italia al ji dicembre l88l ; same 
1871 and 1861. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



119 



Table LXXX.i 

Number and Population of Italian Cities. 
1800. 1847-8. 

Italy 18,124,000 100 23,617,000 100 

100,000 + (4 800,000 4.4) (8 1,425,000 6.) 

30,000-100,000 .. 

10,000-20,000 < 

Total 10,000+ 

Total 2,000+ 



28,459,628 

9 1,974,394 

57 1,811,188 

149 2,084,806 


100 
6.9 
6.4 
7-3 


215 5,870,388 
... 12,358,430 


20.6 
43-43 



XV. OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. 
The more important countries of Europe have been 
treated at length, but, in order to complete the study, statis- 
tical tables setting forth the development of urban popula- 
tions in the remaining European countries are appended. 
Trustworthy data are usually lacking for these countries ex- 
cept in recent years, but the best authorities have been relied 
upon. 

Table LXXXI. Spain. 

1800-10. 1820 ca. 1857. Increase 1887. Increase 

1800-57. 1857-87. 

Spain 10,836,000 11,411,924 15,464,430 42.5 17,565,632 13.6 

15 cities 888,850 1,340,326 50.9 1,928,691 43. 

5 great cities 495,332 778,214 56.5 1,190,725 53, 

Madrid 156,670 167,607 281,170 79.0 470,283 62. 

1820 ca. 1857. 1887. 

5^ of 5$ of ^ of 

No. Pop. total. No. Pop. total. No. Pop. total. 

Total 100,000+ I 167,607 1.45 4 683,921 4.4 5 1,190,725 6.8 

20,000-100,000 24 945,270 8.3 23 805,767 5.2 56 1,975,423 112 

20,000+ 25 1,112,877 9-75 27 1,489,688 g.6 6i» 3,166,148 18. 

10,000-20,000 (estimated) (36 476,530) .... 72 (1,080,000) ... 140 (2,100,000) 

io,ooo+(estiinated).... 61 (1,600,000 14.) 99 (2,570,000 16.2) 201 (5,200,000 29.6) 

Note. — The five great cities are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Malaga. The fifteen 
cities include these five and ten others exceeding 50,000 in population in 1887. The authority for 
1800-10 is Hassel 1809; for 1820, Hassel 1823; for 1857, Censo de la Poblacion de Espana, on 
21 de Mayo de i8s7, and Kolb, 1868; for 1887, the Census. The statistics relate to the commune 
or township, which in Spain is exceedingly large and contains a rural population. The estimates 
for towns 10,000-20,000 are arithmetical (multiplying 15,000 by 72 and 140); but they probably 
approximate actual conditions. According to the Nomenclater de Espagna, 1888, the urban 
population was 4,851,903, and the rural 12,713,369, or 27.89 and 72.11 per cent, respectively, 

* Estimates are enclosed in parent? eses. 



I20 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table LXXXII. Portugal. 

iSoi. 1857 Increase 1878. Increase 1890. Increase 

per cent. per cent. per cent. 

Portugal 3,661,809 3,908,861 6.5 4iS5o,699 16.4 5,082,247 11. i 

Eight cities 115,600 195,600 64.0 308,099 6.2 253,050 12.6 

Lisbon 350,000 275,286 21.4a 246,343 10.5a 307,661 12.4 

1857 

5$ of ^ of 5J of 

No. Pop. total. No. Pop. total. No. Pop. total. 

100,000+ I 350,000 9.5 I 275,286 7.2 2 447,517 8.8 

20,000-100,000. . I 30,000 .8 3 140,000 3.5 I 23,089 .4 

10,000-20,000... 7 85,600 2.4 6 85,600 2.2 12 178,329 3.5 



10,000+ 9 465,600 12.7 10 500,800 12.9 15 648,935 12.7 

a = decrease. 

Note. — The eight cities arc Oporto, Braga, Funchal, Coimbra, Setubal, Evora, Angra, Elvas, 
being the large cities of 1800. As regards the sources, the data for 1890 are from the Statesman's 
Year Book, 1897; ^°^ ^^878, from Censo No. 1 de jfaneiro, 1878, Populacao, Lisbon, 1881; for 
1801 and 1857 ^^ population of Portugal is given in Block, Bevolkerutig Spaniens und Por- 
tugals (1861), p. 53, while the population of the cities in 1800 is from Hassel, 1809, and other 
early hand-books; in 1857, from Kolb, i860, etc. Additional references are Balbi, Essai Statis- 
tiqrte sur le Roya-unte de Portugal, 2 vols., Paris, 1822; Minutoli, Portugal und seine Colonien 
tm Jahre 1854, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1855. The earlier figures are regarded as very inaccurate. 

Table LXXXIII. Greece. 

1852. 
Pop. i> of 

Greece 1,002,112 total 

Athens 3i»i25 3.1 

Other cities of 20,000+ 

Other cities of 10,000- 
20,000 

Total 10,000+ 

Sources. — FonSjg, Almanack de Gotha,\%%s'< tl^e figures include parts of Thessaly an- 
nexed in 1881. For 1889, Supan. For 1852, Kolb, i860. 

Table LXXXIV. Turkey in Europe. 
1885. 

No. 
Turkey 

Constantinople 

Salonica. ... , 

Cities 20,000-100,000 4 



No. 


1879. 

Pop. 

i.979ii47 


i. 


No. 


1889. 
Pop. 
2,187,208 


1'- 


I 
3 


63,374 
67,794 


3.2 

3-4 


I 
3 


107,251 
89,960 


4-9 
4.1 


4 


55,991 


2.8 


8 


109,128 


5.0 


8 


187,159 


9-S 


12 


306,339 


14.0 





Per cent. 


Population. 


of total. 


4,786,64s 


100 


873,565 


18.3 


150,000 


3-1 


166,000 


3.5 



Cities 20,000 -|- 6 1,189,600 24.9 

Sources. — Census of 1885, in Statesman's Year Book for 1897, p. 1018. The territory of Tur- 
key has been so frequently altered that not even the old estimates can be g^ven for comparison. 
Constantinople is said to have had a population of 597,600 (Hassel, 1833) at the beginning of the 
century, and 700,000 at its middle (Kolb, i860). It has apparently gained in population in recent 
years, for so late as 1885 iht Almanack de Gotha credited it with only 6-700,000. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH I2I 

Table LXXXV. Bosnia and Herzogowina. 

Census, May 4, 1883. 

Entire country 1,336,091 

Sarajewo 26,268 1.90 

Mostar 12,665 '95 

Banjaluka iIj357 -95 

Cities 10,000 -|- 3 50,290 3.8% 

Source. — Von Asboth, Bosnia utid Herzogowina, Wien, 1888. 

Table LXXXVI. Servia. 
1800-10. 1854. 1874. 1890. 

Pop. 5?. Pop. f. Pop. f. No. Pop. !». 

Servia 960,000 100. 985,000 100. 1,353,890 100. 2,161,961 100. 

Belgrade 30,000 3.1 16,723 1.7 27,605 2.0 i 54,249 2.5 

Cities 2,000-20,000 4 55.812 2.6 

Total 10,000 -f- 5 110,061 5.1 

" 2,ooo-|- 104 286,46613.35 

Source. — Statistigue du Royautne de Serbie, Belgrade, 1892-3. 

Servian communes are unusually large (38.2 sq. km. on the average), but in this table only the 
agglomerated population is counted. If the unit taken were the commune instead of the dwelling- 
centre, the result would be considerably different (1890) : 

No. Pop. Per cent. 

Total 10,000 + 7 131,534 6.1 

" 2,000 277 787,492 36.S 

The statistics of 1800-10, from Hassel, 1809, are little more than guesses, but, even when dis- 
counted, show a large city population. 



Table LXXXVII. Bulgaria.^ 

1850. 1888. 

Entire country 3»i54.375 loo-o 

Philoppel 40,000 33,032 i.o 

Sofia 30,000 30,428 1.0 

Other cities 20,ooo-|- 4- 96,504 3.1 

Cities 10,000-20,000 15-189,203 6.0 

Total 10,000 + 21-349,167 II. I 

' Including East Roumelia. The authority is ResuUais du Ricensement de la 
Population, 1888 (Sofia 1888) and Supan (jOrtssiatistik') p. 73-5; for 1850, Kolb 
i860. According to estimates at the first of the century, Sofia, the capital, had a 
population of 46,000 (Hassel 1809), But recently Sofia has grown rapidly and 
at the census of 1893 ^^^ ^ population of 47,000 (^St. Yr. Bk. 1897, p. 1034). 



122 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table LXXXVIII. Roumania. 

1800-10. 1859-60. 1889-90. 

Roumania i,370,5cx> ... 4424,961 ... .. 5,038,342 ... 

Bucharest 42,000 3.1 100,000 2.4 .. 220,000 4.4 

20,000-100,000 8 316,152 6.3 

10,000-20,000 13 174,385 3.5 



Total 10,000 -(- 22 710,50014.2 

Total "urban" (legal definition) 885,70017.6 

Authorities. — For 1800-10, Hassel 1809; for 1859-60 Almanack de Gotha; for 1889-90, 
Supan, except Bucharest, which was returned at 194,633. This inaccuracy shows that the 
attempt in 1890 to repair the defects of 1889 were unsuccessful. The census of 1859-60 is also of 
doubtful value. The earlier figures are, of course, only estimates. It should be added that the 
unit of city populations is the territorial subdivision. 

XVI. ASIATIC COUNTRIES. 

Statistics of Asiatic Russia have already been presented. 
Additional statistics for this ancient grand division are not 
worth much space on account of the untrustworthiness of 
mere estimates. The modern periodical census so familiar 
in the Western world has scarcely been introduced in Asia. 
Even progressive Japan has not thoroughly learned the art 
of numbering the people. Hence the only really valuable 
data for present purposes are in the English census of India. 

§ I . Asiatic Turkey covers a vast extent of territory and 
contains numerous cities. But only the larger cities are 
known to the statisticians, and these imperfectly. The esti- 
mated population in 1885 : 

Table LXXXIX.' 

Population. Per cent. 

Entire country 21,608,000 100 

Cities 100,0004- (4) 700,000 3.2 

17 cities, 25,000-100,000 691,000 3.2 

21 cities, 25,000-]- 1,391,000 6.4 

Asiatic Turkey includes Asia Minor, Armenia and Khun- 
distan, Mesopotamia, Syria and Arabia. The four great 
cities are Smyrna (200,000), Damascus (200,000), Bagdad 

* Statesman's Year Book, 1894. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



123 



(180,000), Aleppo (120,000). No statistics of growth can 
be given, beyond noting that in 1823 Hassel published 
these estimates : Damascus, 1 30,000 ; Bagdad, 96,000. The 
Oriental cities are, it appears, not stationary in population. 
§ 2. Persia. — The latest estimates of the population of 
Persia are as follows : ^ 

Table XC. 

Population. Percentages. 

Inhabitants of cities 1,963,800 25.6 

Wandering tribes 1,909,800 24.9 

Villages and country districts 3,780,000 49.5 

Total 7,653,600 100.0 

Teheran 210,000 % 

Tabriz 180,000 j ^' 

Cities 25,000-100,000 (11) 440,000 5.7 

§3. British India. — The official statistics at the present time 
can be compared in accuracy and trustworthiness with those 
of the Western nations. And they are especially instructive 
as presenting the distribution of population in a country 
which is as densely populated as Europe, and has therefore 
emerged from the barbaric state and even attained a con- 
siderable degree of civilization. But the industrial organiza- 
tion of India is totally different from the European. Industry 
in India is mainly carried on in local, autonomous and self- 
sufficing communities. Between these communities there is 
little commerce, for each devotes nearly its entire population 
to supplying its own wants.^ This is essentially true of the 

^St. Yr. Bk., 1897,811. 

* The Census of i8gi {^General Report, p. 94), shows that nine-tenths of the 

population are engaged in local industries : 

Percentage : 
Total pop. Rural pop. 

Engaged in primitive occupations 84.84 88.26 

Engaged in supplementary (semi-rural) " 5.47 o. 

Engaged in other " 9.69 ii'74 

100 100 



124 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



rural population, amounting to nearly nine-tenths of the 

whole: ^ 

Table XCI. 

Percentage of urban pop. in 

Urban population. towns oi 

Per cent, of 10,000- Under 

Total pop. Actual, total, pop. 50,000 + 50,000 10,000. 

Bengal 71,346,987 3,443>876 4-82 44 46 10 

Bombay 18,901,123 3,502,678 18.51 43 35 22 

Madras 35,630,440 3,406,105 9.56 29 46 25 

N.-W. Provinces .. . 46,905,085 5,314,328 11.33 

Other Provinces ... . 48,389,317 4,724,142 9.80 

Total Provinces. . 221,172,952 20,391,129 9.22 

Feudatory States.... 66,050,479 6,860,047 10.38 

Total India 287,223,431 27,251,176 9.48 35 36 29 

The definition of a town in this table is not a statistical 
one, as there are many towns included whose population is 
under 2,000, and some villages excluded whose population 
exceeds 20,000. The census regards as " towns " all places 
" established as municipalities or brought under similar regu- 
lations for police and sanitary purposes," and secondly, all 
places wherein at least one-half of the population is non- 
agricultural; in the latter case the numerical standard of 
5,000 was prescribed/ As regards the aggregate results, the 
two "tests" of urban population are tantamount to a statisti- 
cal limit of 5,000, as will appear later. (Table XCII.) 

While, then, nine-tenths of the people of British India are 
rural, and dwell in village communities, it might be expected 
that the introduction of railways would have developed a 
considerable migratory movement. But it is said that at 
least four-fifths of the people in the villages belong to the 
classes that composed the original village community ; 3 and 
the new-comers occupy an inferior position. India's econ- 
omic organization is therefore of an antiquated character, 
such as prevailed in Europe two or more centuries ago, and 
the distribution of the population bears about the same anti- 
quated relation to that of the present Western world, as will 
appear from Table XCII : 

' Op. cit., p. 43, and appendix p. xv. * Op. cit., p. 42. ' Op. cit., p. 48, 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



125 



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126 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

It would be interesting to know whether a tendency to- 
ward concentration of population in India has yet mani- 
fested itself. The following statistics indicate the rate of 
increase between 1881 and 1891, and answer the question in 
the affirmative : 

Table XCIII.' 

Classes of Cities. Principal Cities. 

100,000 -(- 10.58 Bombay 6.28 

75,000 — 6.54 Calcutta 8.25 

50,000 — 13.60 Madras 11.50 

35,000 — 9.48 Haidrabad 16.92 

20,000 — 11.58 Lucknow 4.49 

10,000 — 10.66 Benares 2.19 

5,000 — 7.54 Delhi 11.06 

3,000 — 1.54 

Under 3,000 86 

Total 9.40 

The larger cities are evidently growing considerably more 
rapidly than the smaller places. The variations among the 
groups of large cities is undoubtedly due to the character of 
the towns, — whether commercial and manufacturing, or 
military or religious centres. This is shown in the second 
column where the half dozen principal cities are named. 
Benares is purely a religious centre of ancient renown, and is 
nearly stationary in population. Lucknow and Haidrabad 
are capitals of native states, but the latter has a large in- 
crease. The slow growth of Bombay and Calcutta, the great 
commercial centres, is explained by an overflow to the 
suburbs as in the case of London. As a general rule the 
largest increase is shown^ to have taken place in the case 
of the industrial cites, e. g., Hubli, 43.4; Karachi, 43.01; 
Ajmer, 41.26. The only military station or capital to ap- 
proach such a rate is Rawal Pindi, 39.30. Many of the 
feudatory state capitals show an actual decrease, and nearly 
all of them are on the wane. 

^ Op. cit., 79, 81. * op. cit., p. 81. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



127 



An attempt has been made to discover the relative rates 
of increase of the population in the larger provinces and their 
chief cities, but no valuable results have been obtained. It is 
difficult to get any data earlier than 187 1-2, the date of the 
first general census in India, and the frequent annexation of 
new territory, together with the prevalence of local famines 
or diseases, has broken in upon any uniformity that might 
otherwise have been discovered. The results obtained 
follow : 

Table XCIV.^ 

Percentage of Increase (-t ) or Decrease (— ). 

1850-71. 1871-81. 1881-91. 

Bombay 19 18 14 

Four chief cities ''■ — i 25 8.8 

Northwest Provinces 29. 6.2 4.6 

Six chief cities * 8.6 24.3 10.3 

Bengal — .165 -I-6.7 

Calcutta,* Patna —.826 -|-8. 

Madras — 1,5 15. 

Madras city 3.0 12. 

Punjab 7. 10.7 

Three chief cities ^ 24. 5. 

Oude 1.3 II. 

Lucknow — 8.2 4.5 

In almost every instance there is one period in which the 
province had the larger increase and another period in which 
the cities grew more rapidly. During the last decade, the 
cities fell behind in Madras, Bombay, Punjab, and Oude, 
while they surpassed the general rate of growth in the 
Northwest Provinces, Bengal, and the feudatory state, 

^The authorities are the Census of i8qi, the Census of England, 1871, iv, 294, 
and, for 1850, Kolb, i860, and Harper'' s Gazetteer, 1855, 
^ Bombay, Puna, Ahmadabad, Surat. 
•'' Benares, Cawnpore, Allahabad, Agra, Bareli, Meerut. 
* Calcutta, inclusive of Howrah and suburbs. 
'" Delhi, Lahore, Amrilsar. 



128 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Haidrabad. It is therefore by no means certain that there 
is a tendency toward concentration in India, except such as 
results from the passing of cities from a lower to a higher 
group. The increase per cent, of the 26 " great cities " of 
1 89 1, whose population is given in 1 881, Ms 10, while all 
India increased by ii per cent., even without reckoning the 
annexations. 

This is due to the decay of many of the great religious 
centres or native capitals. Madras, for example, was re- 
ported to have a population of 817,000 in 1823 (Hassel) 
and 720,000 in i860 (Kolb), but the census of 1881 gave it 
405,848; Benares, reported 580,000 in 1823, 185,984 in 
i860; Delhi, 400,000 in 1823, 152,406 in i860; Calcutta, 
900,000 in 1823, 794,193 in 1871 ; Surat, 450,000 in 1823, 
109,844 in 1 88 1. No doubt many of these early estimates 
egregiously exaggerated the population, but there has cer- 
tainly been a decline in some of the cities almost sufificient 
to balance the gain in others ; so that the cities seem to be 
just about maintaining the same proportion in the general 
population. 

§ 4. Of the other Asiatic countries, the only one whose sta- 
tistics are worth attention is Japan. The Philippine Islands, 
indeed, are reported in the Spanish census of 1887, but, as 
in Spain, the local statistics are based on the township, a 
territorial subdivision, rather than upon the dwelling-centre, 
an agglomeration of people : ^ 

1887. 

Philippine Islands 7,000,000 100. 

Manila i 154,062 2.2 

Towns 20,000-100,000 21 526,152 7.5 

Total 20,ooo-|- 22 680,214 9.7 

^ There were 28 cities in this class in 1891, counting Calcutta and three suburbs 
as one city; but Maridalay and Shringar were not given in 188 1. 
' Supan, 87. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



129 



§ 5. China, — The Chinese statistics are, of course, the crud- 
est estimates, and do not claim even approximate accuracy. 
Still, some idea of the Chinaman's tendency towards agglom- 
eration may be gathered from the statement that the aggre- 
gate population of the 52 cities in China which Supan 
estimates as above the 100,000 limit, is 88,336,000. This 
enormous " great-city" population forms 22 per cent, of the 
402,680,000 persons accredited to China in the most recent 
estimates.^ 

§ 6. Japan. — Even the Japanese statistics are of doubtful 
value ; thus, in the official statement of population of cities of 
30,000+ which appears in the annual Resume Statistique and 
the Annuaire Statistique de V Empire du jfapon, the popula- 
tion of the city of Sendai fluctuates in the following manner:" 

January, 1884 SS'32i 

December, 1886 9i>709 

December, 1887 7i»5^7 

December, 1889 90,231 

December, 1890 66,310 

The following table shows the distribution of the urban 
population 1 887-90 : ^ 

Table XCV. 

No. Pop. Per cent. 

Japan 40,453,461 100. 

100,000+ 6 2,353,807 5.84 

20,000-100,000 49 1,829,601 4.53 

10,000-20,000 80 i>099,389 2.72 

Total 10,000+ 135 S.282,797 13.09 

'^Statesman's Yr. Bk., 1897. 

* Cf. Supan, p. 83. 

3 The RSsumi Statistique de P Empire du Japan; 6\h\t&x, 1892 (pp. 10, 16), 
gives the population of cities over 30,000 for Dec. 31, 1890; the smaller cities 
were found in Supan, the population being for 1887. The figures are all careful 
estimates {Berechnungen), not enumerations. In 1890 there were 141 towns of 
10,000.+ 



130 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



There has naturally been a rapid urban growth in Japan in 
recent years. While a few cities, like Kanazawa, have lost in 
population, several of the commercial cities have had an as^ 
tounding growth if the Japanese statistics may be believed. 
Thus Kobe had a population of 20,579 in 1881, and 136,968 
in 1890; Yokahama, 63,048 in 1881, and 127,987 in 1890. 
Taking the six cities which severally contained 100,000+ in 
1890, and the 11 cities of 50,000-100,000, and comparing 
their aggregates with 1881, the following percentages of in- 
crease are obtained : ^ 

Japan i i.o 

6 great cities 51.0 

1 1 other cities 16.0 

There is, therefore, a strong tendency toward concentra- 
tion in the great cities. In 1881 there dwelt in the "great 
cities " of Japan 4.4 in every hundred of the population, as 
compared with 5.84 in 1890. 

XVII. AMERICAN COUNTRIES.^ 

§ I . Canada. — ^The Dominion of Canada was established 
in 1867 and the statistics of urban population since then are 
as follows : 

Table XCVI.» 

Urban 
Total Pop. Urban Pop. Percentage. 

1871 3,635,024 689,019 18.8 

1881 4,324,810 912,934 21. 1 

1891 4»833.239 1,390,910 28.7 

The urban population is officially defined as the aggre- 
gate population of towns of 1,500 and upwards. This is a 
lower limit than elsewhere prevails, but as appears in Table 

^For 1890 as above, for 1881 Almanack de Gotha, 1885. 
^ For the United States see Sec. I. of this chapter. 
^Statistical Year Book of Canada^ 1895, p. ^^T* 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



131 



XCVIII, there is no great change in the percentage if the 
line be drawn at towns of 2,000. 

The census of 1891 shows an exceedingly large urban 
increase ; in fact, four-fifths of the entire increase in Canada 
in the last decade was in the towns. The official statisti- 
cians, in explanation, say that the phenomenon is " caused 
to a considerable extent by the growth of a number of places 
which had not attained a population of 1,500 in 1881." ^ 
But as there were only 29 such places, it is hardly possible 
that this element could have contributed more than 45,000, 
or less than one-tenth of the entire urban increase. The 
comparative rates of increase of large and small towns are 
herewith shown : 

Table XCVII.» 

1851-71. 1871-81. 1881-91. 

Canada 30. 18.97 1 1.76 

1 1 small cities 71. 62. 

7 middle-sized cities 33. 21. 

2 great cities 85. 54. 58. 

20 cities i 46. 43. 

Thus even with a fixed number of cities, the urban popu- 
lation is increasing three times as rapidly as the general pop- 
ulation. The large percentages for the small cities is partly 
due to the fact that in 1851 only eight of the 11 existed as 
separate municipalities whose population could be ascer- 
tained; in 1 87 1, one of the 11 is still unrepresented. Mak- 
ing allowance for these, it is probable that the rate would be 
lower than that of the middle-sized cities. 

The tendency toward concentration is more adequately 
shown in the following table : 

^ Statistical Year Book of Canada, 1895, P* ^^7» 

' The classification follows that in Table XCVIII., where the population of each 
group is given for 1 89 1 and of Canada for 185 1. 



132 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 







Table XCVIII. 












1851. 






1891. 






No. 


Pop. 


Per cent. 


No. 


Pop. 


Per cent. 


Canada 


•. 


2.375.597 


100. 


•• 


4.833.239 


100. 


Cities 100,000+. 







.... 


.. 


2,397.870 


8.2 


" 20-100,000 


5 


175,287 


7-4 


7 


291,578 


6.0 


" 10-20,000.. 


2 


25,697 


I.I 


II 


139,938 


2.9 


Total 10,000+ 


• 7 


200,894 


8.5 


20 


829,386 


17.I 


" 2,000+ .. 


.. 




.• 


•• 


1,319,060 


27-3 



Sources. — For 1891, summarized from Census of Canada, 1891, iv, 400: for 1851, The Census 
of iSsi for Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec), sppplemented by Statistical Year 
Book of Canada, 1896, p. 7, and Harper's Gazetteer, 1855. The population of Prince Edward 
Island (62,678) included in the total of 1851 is for 1848. 

It is interesting to note the provinces that have contributed 
most to the urban increase. The proportion of urban (towns 
1,500+) to total population: 

Table XCIX.i 
1871. 

Ontario 194 

Quebec 19.5 

Nova Scotia 14.0 

New Brunswick 24.3 

Manitoba 1.2 

British Columbia 8.9 

Prince Edward Island 1 1.5 

The Territories 

That Ontario and Quebec should contain increasing pro- 
portions of town populations is natural, but it is surprising 
to find a relative decrease in New Brunswick," and a wonder- 
ful increase in British Columbia and Manitoba. 

§ 2. Mexico. — The Mexican statistics of city populations 
are too untrustworthy to demand serious study. In 1895, 
indeed, a fairly accurate census was taken, but the earlier 

^ Census of i8g J, vf, ^01. 

' The New Brunswick towns have been losing in population, while the province 
itself is stationary. 



I88I. 


1891. 


22.8 


33.2 


22.8 


29.2 


13-6 


21.2 


22.3 


194 


I2.I 


22.5 


II.9 


42.5 


I4.I 


I3-0 


... 


5-6 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 13 j 

data are absurdly inaccurate, as a few comparisons will indi- 
cate: 

Veracruz. Guanajuato. Puebla. 

Almanack de Gotha 1880 56,1 12 75>ooo 

Supan = 1889 24,cx)o 52,000 110,000 

St. Year Book {Q.^w%M&) 1895 88,993 39.337 9I.9I7 

The best available statistics are the following : 







Table C.^ 






1889. 




No. 


Pop. Per cent. 


Mexico 


. 


11,632,924 100. 


Mexico City 


I 


329,535 2.8 


Cities 20-100,000 . . 


. 20 


730,261 6,3 


Cities 10-20,000 • . • 


• 30 


400,156 3.4 


Cities 10,000+ . . . 


• 51 


1.459,952 12.5 



1895- 

No. Pop. Per cent. 

12,570,195 100. 

344.377 2.74 
18 892,052 7. 



The Mexican cities seem to be growing no faster than the 
rest of the country. A few commercial cities like Veracruz 
are indeed developing rapidly, but to counterbalance this is 
the slow growth or even decline of many ancient capitals : 



Mexico 

Capitals of provinces. 



25 



1850.2 
7,661,919 
703,186 = 



= 9-2% 



29 



1880.^ 
9,787,629 

946,886 : 



^9-7/^ 



§ 3. Brazil. — At the middle of the century Brazil had about 
the same population as Mexico, but now has about twenty- 
five per cent more, the census of 1890 giving a total of 
16,330,216. The only available urban statistics are the offi- 
cial estimates of 1888: 



^For 1889, Bureazi of American Republics: Bulletin N'o. jo,^. 166; for 1895, 
St. Yr. Bk., 1897, P- 739- I*^ is probable that the popvilation of cities in 1889 is 
here underestimated; Supan's figures for the same year give a total of 795,200 for 
cities 20-100,000, or 6.8%. 

^Harper, 1855. '^ Almanack de Goiha, \%%t^. 



134 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table CI. 



No. Population. Percentages.. 

Brazil 14,002,335 100 

Rio de Janeiro Si5»5S9 3-7 

Bahia 162,065 i.i 

Pernambuco 130,000 .9 

Cities 100,000+ 3 807,600 5.7 

" 20,000-100,000 II 420,000 3.0 

" 10,000-20,000 17 206,000 1,5 

Cities 10,0004- 31 i!433>6oo 10.2 

According to the census of 1856, Rio de Janeiro contained 
300,000 inhabitants in a total population of 7,677,800'' — a 
percentage of 3.9. Apparently the metropolis has not grown 
as rapidly as the rest of the country, but there is a large 
suburban population not counted in the figures of 1888. It 
is stated that the city with suburbs now (1898) has a popu- 
lation of about 1,000,000. 

§ 4. Argentina. — The noteworthy thing about this progres- 
sive republic is the remarkable concentration of population 
in one large city, the metropolis, Buenos Ayres. In 1869^ 
at the time of the first authentic census, it had a population 
of 177,787, or 9.8 per cent, of a total population in Argentina 
of 1,812,490.3 In 1887, suburbs containing 28,000 inhabi- 
tants were annexed to a population of 404,000. At the end 
of 1896 its estimated population was 71 2,095. ^ The results 
of the enumeration of 1895 are not entirely obtainable, and in 
the table below, the official estimates of 1890 are also given.s 

* Amer. Repub., Bui. No. jo, p. 64. 
»Kolb, i860, p. 369. 

' Almanack de Gotha, 1885. 

* Annuaire statistique de la Ville de Buenos Ayres, 1896. 

' According to Kolb, i860, Buenos Ayres and suburbs had a population in 1856 
of 130,000, which is 8.7 per cent, of the estimated population of Argentina 
(1,500,000;. Harper's (1855) gave the city in 1852 120,000, and the Republic 
829,400 (excluding aborigines) ; i. e., 14.5 per cent. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



135 



Table CII. 

1890.1 1893.2 

No. Population. Per cent. No. Population. Per cent. 

Argentina 3,456,000 loo. 3j952,990 100. 

Buenos Ayres i 561,160 16.2 677,786 17.1 

Cities 20,000-100,000 5 227,000 6.6 7 289,043 7.3 

" 10,000-20,000. 13 173,000 5.0 

Total io,ooo-j- .. . 19 961,800 27.8 

§ 5. Chile. — In Chile there apparently exists a tendency 
toward concentration, although the statistics are untrust- 
worthy; for example, the fifth census (1875) warns its 
readers that an addition of 207,597 should be made for 
omissions, thus recognizing an error of 10 per cent. 

Table CIII, 

1850. 1875. 1885. 

Per cent. Pop. Per cent. No. Pop. Per cent. 

Chile 1,600,000 ... 2,075,971 100. .. 2,527,320 100. 

Rural pop i,350.48i 65.3 ..1,464,776 58. 

Urban " 725,490 34.7 .. 1,062,544 42. 

Santiago 65,000 \ f 189,332 

Valparaiso 30,000 i »- 104,952 

Cities 100,0004- 2 294,284 1 1.6 

20,000-100,000 3 69,000 2.7 

10,000-20,000 5 69,000 2.7 

Total io,ooo-f ID 432,300 17.1 

Sources. — For 1850, Harper's Gazeiieer, 1S55; for 1875, A Itnanack de Gotha, 1885; for 
1885, St. Yr. Bk., 1897, and Supan. The list of cities in Bur. Am. Repub. Bui., 50, is evidently 
based on a territorial unit, as there are 46 " cities" of 20,000-100,000 with an aggregate popula- 
tion of 2,035,000! 

The Chilean definition of urban population is unknown to 
the writer, but it obviously includes very small towns or 
else is based on a large territorial subdivision as the unit. 

§ 6. The remaining American states are too unimportant 
to detain us long. They are either small and thinly popu- 
lated or else their population consists largely of uncivilized 
Indians and half breeds. They are grouped in Table CIV : 

^ Supan, pp. 118-119. The list of cities in the Bui. of Amer. Repub., does not 
seem to be complete for cities 10,000-20,000, but its figures for the population of 
Buenos Ayres and Argentina are here adopted. 

' St. Yr. Bk., 1897, pp. 322-3. 



136 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



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STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



137 



XVIII. AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 

But a small proportion of the inhabitants of Africa have 
been enumerated. The most ancient country of African 
civilization, Egypt, has the largest population and the great- 
est cities. The census of 1882 yields the following results : 

Table CV.' 



Egypt 

Cairo 

Alexandria. 



Population. 


Per cent. 


6,817,265 


IOC. 


374,838 




213,010 




587,848 


8.6 


179,756 


2.6 


303,295 


4-5 



Cities 100,000-+- 2 

" 20,000-100,000 6 

" 10,000-20,000 22 

« 10,000-f 30 1,070,899 15.7 

At the middle of the century, Cairo and Alexandria con- 
tained respectively 250,000 and 60,000 inhabitants,'' or 6.9 
per cent, of the entire population. Their growth since has 
been at a more rapid rate than the population of Egypt in 
its entirety. 

The other countries are summarized in Table CVI. 
Orange Free State, as well as Abyssinia, is noteworthy as 
having scarcely any towns of more than 5,000 population, 
and none reaching 10,000; but Bornu, a native state, has 
one large city and several smaller ones. 

Table CVI. 

Source. Date. Population. Cities 20,000-100,000 10,000-20,000 10,000+ 

1. Algiers Census 1891 4,124,732 5 248,690 6.0 6 94,401 2.3 11 343,091 8.3 

2. Cape Colony " 1891 1,529,224 3 103,235 6.8 2 20,976 1.4 s 124,211 8.2 

3. Natal " 1891 S43>9i3 ° •• 230,2375.6 2 30,237 5-6 

4. Orange Free 

State " 1890 207,503 o o o o o 

5. Transvaal .. off. est. 1896 790,000 (Johannesburg, the sole city,) = i 102,71412.9 

6. Abyssinia. . . est. 1896 3,500,000 o o o o 

7. Bornu (Sou- 

dan) " 1896 5,000,000 I 55,000 II.O I 

Authorities. 
Supan for i, 2, 3, 4. St. Yr. Bk., 1897, for 5, 6, 7. It is to be noted that the population of 
Johannesburg includes the district within a three miles radius. 

^ Supan, pp. 90-91. 

* Harper, 1855. The population of Egypt at the census of 1846 was 4,463,244 
{St. Yr. Bk., 1897.) 



138 



THE GROWTH 0I< CITIES 
XIX. AUSTRALASIA. 



The most remarkable concentration, or rather centraliza- 
tion, of population occurs in that newest product of civiliza- 
tion, Australia, where nearly one-third of the entire popula- 
tion is settled in and about capital cities. The following^ 
table gives the absolute numbers and ratios for 1891 and the 
ratios for 1881 : 



Table CVII.^ 



Colony. Capital. 

New South Wales Sydney ... 

Victoria Melbourne 

Queensland Brisbane • 

South Australia Adelaide . 

Western Australia Perth .... 

Tasmania Hobart • . . 

New Zealand Wellington 



i8qi Pop. of 



Ratio of capital Ratio 



Colony. 
1,132,234 
1,140,405 

393>7i8 

320,431 

49,782 

146,667 

626,658 



Capital. to colony. 



383,386 
490,902 
101,564 
133.252 

8,447 
33,450 
33,224 



34-27 
43-09 
25,80 
41.58 
16.97 
22.81 
5-3 



1881. 

28.79 
32.14 

13-70 
36.27 
19.36 

17-75 
4.10 



3,809,895 1,184,225 31. 1 25,10 



The population of the capital city formed a larger percent- 
age of the entire population in 1891 than in 1881 in all of 
the colonies except Western Australia. Melbourne and 
Adelaide contain over two-fifths of the whole population of 
Victoria and South Australia. When it is remembered that 
there are only seven States in the American Union in which 
all the cities of 8,000 inhabitants and upward contain two- 
fifths of the population, the conditions in Australia can be 
better understood. There are several countries in the world 
that contain a larger proportion of urban population, but in 
none of them is it so massed in a few centres.'^ The rate at 



^T. A, Coghlan (Government statistician of New South Wales), A Statistical 
Account of the Seven Colonies of Australia, Sydney, 1892, pp. 335, 352. 

^ Except in individual States of the American Union, e. g.. New York City con- 
tains fully 50 per cent, of the inhabitants of the State, and metropolitan Boston 
40,17 per cent, of Massachusetts's population. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



139 



which this centralization has been going on appears in the 
following figures : 

Table CVIIL' 

Total population of the Percentage of total 

population living 

Seven colonies. Their capitals. in the capitals. 

180I 6,508 

1821 C 3S,6lO 

1831 79>3o6 

1841 21 1,095 43»76i 20.7 

1851 430.596 84,503 19.6 

1861 c 1,252,994 276,960 22.1 

1871 c 1,924,770 431,533 22.4 

1881 c 2,742,550 689,634 25.1 

189IC 3,809,895 1^184,225 31.1^ 

^ ^ ^ ^^ \ 835,888 21.92 

Up to 1 87 1 the cities did not grow very much more rapidly 
than the rest of the population, but in the last two decades 
the difference has been marked. 

On the whole, these figures may be fairly taken as repre- 
senting Australia'a urban population, but in one way they 
exaggerate the concentration, or congestion of population, 
inasmuch as they include large suburban districts. Thus, 
Sydney includes 35 suburbs, and its area is larger than any 
city in the United States except Chicago, being 150 square 
miles, or 96,000 acres. Chicago has 103,000 acres, Philadel- 
phia, 83,000, and London, 75,000; the other great cities are 
smaller, Paris having an area of 19,000 acres. New York 
(before 1898) 25,000, and Berlin only 16,000.3 Mel- 
bourne's acreage, 163,942, is still greater than Sydney's. If 
now the AustraUan suburbs be counted in with the great 
cities only when they form industrial parts thereof,-* and 

^ Coghlan, op. cit., 334, 352. " C " indicates census years. 

* With and without the suburbs, respectively. 
' iitk Cen., Soc. Stat, of Cities, 13. 

* The writer here follows Supan. 



I40 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



0+ IN 189I. 




Per cent. 


Population. 


'fi of colony. 


in i8si. 


381,444 


33.6 


28,2 


525,632 


46.1 


30. 


64,455 


16.3 


0. 


90,786 


28.3 


28. ca 




0. 


0. 


46,487 


32.0 




150,479 


24.0 


0. 



Otherwise classed as separate municipalities, we shall have 
the following figures : 

Table CIX. 

CiTlBS OF I( 

No. 

New South Wales 10 

Victoria 7 

Queensland 2 

South Australia 2 

Western Australia o 

Tasmania 2 

New Zealand 4 

Total 27 1,264,283 33.2 

There are now 27 cities that exceed the limit 10,000, 
whereas, if the official statistics of population be accepted 
many of these cities, together with smaller towns, would 
be assigned to Sydney and Melbourne, which would indeed 
reduce the number of cities, but increase their population. 
Following the official grouping, this classification will result 
thus: 

Table CX.^ 

Number and popuuvtion of cities in 1891. 

20,000- 10,000- Total 10,000+. 

100,000 -p. 100,000. 20,000. No. Pop. fb. 

New South Wales i 383,386 i 51,561 452,596 6 487,543 43.1 

Victoria i 490,902 3 107,481 o 4 598,383 52.4 

Queensland i 101,564 o i 13,380 2 114,944 29,2 

South Australia i 133,252 o i 15,976 2 149,228 46.7 

Western Australia ...-o o o o 

Tasmania o i 33,450 i 17,208 2 50,658 34.5 

New Zealand o 4 178,062 o 4 178,062 28.5 



Total 4 1,109,104 9 370,554 7 99,160 20 1,578,818 41.4 

Percentage of Austral- 
asian population ... 29.1 9.7 2.6 41.4 

The historical development of urban population may be 
best studied in New South Wales,^ the original colony from 

1 Coghlan, op. cit., 353. 

'' Census of i8gi. Statistician's Report, p. 120. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



141 



which the other colonies of the mainland have been sepa- 
rated. The censuses proper begin with 1861, but before 
that year Sydney virtually represented the urban population, 
as New Castle (the next largest city) only reached 7,810 
population in 186 1. In 1790, at the time of the first "mus- 
ter," all of the 591 European inhabitants of the colony lived 
at Sydney; in 1799 half of the 5,088 inhabitants lived there; 
in 1811,4,895 out of 10,025 or 48.8 per cent.; in 1821, 
13,401 out of 29,662, or 45.2 per cent.; in 1831, 16,232 out 
of 60,794, or 26.7 per cent; in 1841, 29,973 out of 116,631, 
or 25,7 per cent. This was the smallest percentage ever 
reached for the city. In 185 1 Sydney contained 53,924 out 
of 191,099 inhabitants, or 28.2 per cent. The movement 
toward the occupation of lands has stopped, and the popula- 
lation flocks to the great city. In 1 861-71, as appears from 
the following table,^ the outside districts gained two new 
settlers to one gained by Sydney; but in 1 881-91, the con- 
dition was more than reversed, Sydney having an increase of 
160,000 to 67,000 increase for the rural districts: 

Table CXI. 

1861. 1871. 1881. 1891. 

Sydney i 95,789 i 137,776 i 224,939 i 383.283 

Other cities 5,000+ . . 3 19,081 4 32,987 6 58,481 8 120,753 

Towns 2,-5,000 4 14,623 7 20,564 20 54,608 41 117,587 

Total urban 8 129,493 12 191,327 27 338,028 50 621,623 

Villages 29 30,341 44 43,486 85 88,910 108 108,396 

Rural 189,116 .. 266,766 .. 321,303 ... 388,231 

Total 348,950 •• 501,579 •• 748,241 ••• 1,118,250 

Shipping, etc 1,910 .. 2,402 .. 3,227 ... 5,704 

Aborigines 8,280 

Grand total 350,860 .. 503,981 .. 751,468 ... 1,132,234 

Percentages. 

Sydney 27.45 27.47 30.06 34.27 

Other towns 9.65 10.67 i5-io 21.32 

Villages 8.70 8.67 1 1.90 9.69 

Rural 54.20 53.19 42.94 34.72 

Total 100. 100. 100. 100. 

^ Census of i8gi. Statistician's Report, p. 126. 



142 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



In this classification "village" includes all municipalities 
with a population under 2,000; as will be seen, they average 
about 1,000 each. The purely rural or agricultural popula- 
tion has declined relatively from 54.20 per cent, in 1861 to 
34.72 in 1 89 1. The villages have done little more than hold 
their own, while Sydney and the other cities have grown 
rapidly. 

XX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 

In order to bring statistics of urban population in different 
countries into comparison, the author has aimed to secure, as 
the town unit, an actual agglomeration of people, and not a ter- 
ritorial unit or political subdivision. The distinction between 
the two modes of procedure has been discussed in Chapter I ; 
here it is necessary only to call attention to the exceptions 
ncessarily made in a table of comparisons. Where the local 
unit is not a territorial subdivision {i. ^., where it is the vil- 
lage, town or city, in the United States ; the urban sanitary 
district in England ; the Centri in Italy ; and the German 
Gemeinde, virtually coinciding with the Ort or Wohnplatz in 
Saxony), it is unnecessary to pay any attention to the area; 
elsewhere the size of the territorial unit may appreciably 
affect urban percentages, because it will often contain a scat- 
tered or rural, as well as an agglomerated, population. The 
average size of the territorial unit in square kilometres is as 
follows : 

Massachusetts, town or city 61.4 

Spain, Ayuntamento 54. 

Netherlands, Gemeente 28.7 

Hungary, Gemeinde 22. 

France, commune 14.62 

Switzerland, commune 1 2.6 

Belgium, commune 1 1.4 

Austria, Gemeinde 10.6 

Germany " 7. 

Prussia " 6.34 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



^43 



It will be perceived that the danger of reckoning isolated 
residents among urban dwellers is at the minimum in the 
small Gemeinde of Germany, which, in extent, fairly conforms 
with the incorporated village in America. In France the 
commune is not much larger, and in ascertaining the urban 
population only those communes are included which con- 
tain an agglomerated population of 2,000 and upwards, 
although to all such the scattered population is then added. 
In the Netherlands, the territorial unit is still larger, and it 
affects the percentage of urban population considerably, as 
the note to the table shows. The Spanish Ayuntamento 
(also in Cuba and the Philippines) is so large as to render 
the comparison worthless for the smaller towns, and these 
have therefore been enclosed in brackets. The New Eng- 
land township, again, must obviously include a rural popu- 
lation ; but in the more careful computations of urban popu- 
lation there, it is customary to treat the incorporated cities 
(approximately those towns of 12,000+ agglomerated popu- 
lation) separately as constituting the urban population. 

With the reservations here made, Table CXII is presented 
as a summary of results obtained in the statistical investiga- 
tions of the present chapter. 

In Table CXII the countries are arranged in the order of 
percentage of urban population (/. e., population in towns of 
10,000 or more inhabitants). In some cases where this 
population could not be ascertained, positions have been 
assigned after comparing the other percentages, and at the 
same time keeping in mind the different conditions. China's 
position, however, is an arbitrary one, as only one percentage 
is given, and that is of slight value. In this table, the 
official statistics of Australia, regarding the territorial extent 
of the great cities, have been followed ; had the limits been 
drawn with Supan, at the actual municipality, the percentage 
for the seven colonies (10,000+) would be 33.2 instead of 



144 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 




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STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 












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146 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

41.4. But that would still leave Australia near the head of 
the list. 

One is impressed with the extent of the variations in the 
percentage of urban population in the different countries of 
the world. On the one hand, England with 62 per cent, of 
its population city-dwellers ; on the other hand, several 
Balkan states with only five city people out of every 
hundred, and the Orange Free State with no real urbanites 
at all. 

Of the causes of such extensive variations, that which 
most readily suggests itself is density of population. Given 
two countries of equal area, it would naturally be expected 
that the more populous country would contain the larger 
number of cities. Thus it would seem impossible that peo- 
ple could be crowded together as they are in Belgium or 
England, without living in such close proximity as to con- 
stitute agglomerations. But such is the case. Bengal, for 
example, has as many inhabitants as the United States in a 
territory scarcely larger than Great Britain and Ireland ; and 
the density of population in Bengal is exceeded only slightly 
by that of Belgium and England. Nevertheless, the per- 
centage of urban population in Bengal is only 4.8 as com- 
pared with 47.7 in Belgium.^ In order to compare the 
relation of density of population to its concentration, the 
following table showing the number of inhabitants to each 
square kilometer of territory has been compiled : "^ 

^ In both cases urban population= towns of 5,000 -f-. 

* Statistik des Deutschen Reiches, Neue Folge, Bd, 68, p. 6*. A few countries 
have been added from Almanack de Gotha, and are enclosed in parenthesis 
marks. The data refer to the censuses of 1889-91. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



147 



Table CXIII. 



Saxony 234. 

Belgium 206. 

England and Wales 192. 

Bengal 181.8 

North- West Provinces 168.5 

Netherlands 138.7 

Italy (1893) 107. 

Japan 106.5 

Madras 97.4 

Germany 91.5 

(China-proper) 87. 

Prussia 86. 

Austria 79.6 

Bavaria 74. 

Switzerland 73.3 

Punjab 72.8 

France 72.5 

British India 71. i 

Bombay 58.3 

Ireland 57.6 

Denmark 55.1 

Hungary 54.2 

Scotland 52.2 

Portugal (1881) 51. 



Servia 44.5 

North Atlantic States 41.5 

Roumania 38.5 

Spain (1887) 34-8 

Greece 34. 

'^Chinese Empire) 32. 

Bulgaria 31.8 

Bosnia and Herzogovina 26. 

(European Russia. 1897) 19. 

(Cuba) 13.7 

Sweden 10.8 

United States 8.2 

(Mexico) 64 

Norway 6.2 

(Russia, 1897) 5-8 

Victoria, Australia 5. 

(Colombia) 4.8 

(Chile) 3.8 

(Peru) 2.8 

(Cape Colony) 2.7 

(Brazil) 1.7 

New South Wales 1.4 

(Argentine) 1.2 

Canada 0.6 



India, Italy and Japan are densely populated countries; 
but they have relatively small urban populations. On the 
other hand, the United States and Australia are thinly popu- 
lated and still have relatively large urban populations. Scot- 
land and Argentina do not occupy parallel positions. Evi- 
dently there are other factors in producing agglomerations 
than mere populousness. 

A more probable explanation of large urban populations is 
the organization of industry on a modern scale. It appears, 
indeed, that nearly all of the more advanced industrial nations 
are included among the first fifteen countries in Table CXII, 
while none of the countries in the second half of the list, with 
the exception perhaps of Japan, can be said to be in the fore- 
front of modern industry. 



148 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



It cannot be said that manufacturing or machine industry 
alone causes the concentration of population. Ranking the 
leading nations by the amount of steam power per lOO in- 
habitants, for example, does not yield the same order as that 
in Table CXII. Thus, the countries that utilize steam to the 
extent of at least 20 horse-power per 100 inhabitants are the 
United States, England and Scotland ; more than 10 and less 
than 20 — Belgium, Germany, France ; more than 7 and less 
than 10 — Netherlands, Denmark, Scandinavia, Ireland; more 
than 3 and less than 7 — Russia, Austria, Hungary, Switzer- 
land, Italy, Spain ; less than 3 — Portugal and the Balkan 
States, including Greece and Turkey.' 

The United States should follow England and Scotland 
if manufactures alone determined the percentage of urban 
dwellers ; while the Netherlands, Turkey, etc., would occupy 
positions much lower in the list. But Holland is a great 
commercial country, carrying on a larger commerce per 
capita than any other nation in the world ; its large urban 
population is chiefly to be attributed to that fact. The same 
applies, to a less degree, to Turkey. Constantinople contains 
by far the larger portion of Turkey's urban population, its 
percentage being 18.3, while for all cities of 20,000-f- it is 
only 24. In this case some influence may be attributed to 
politics as a cause of concentration ; but it still remains true 
that it is Constantinople's commercial advantages which have 
made the city the seat of government. 

It is of course true that back of density of population and 
industrial organization are the physical features of a country 
and its comparative natural advantages for different indus- 
tries. Nature has perhaps determined that in Uruguay a 
very large percentage of the population shall be centered in 
the city and department of Montevideo. Nature has also 

' Hobson, Evolution of Capitalism, 85-6. 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 



149 



favored the building of a great commercial city at Buenos 
Ayres and discouraged the dispersion of the population by 
providing better advantages for grazing than for cultivation 
of the soil. Such is emphatically the case in Australia, 
while in India a rich soil entices to an extensive cultivation, 
and supports a large agricultural population, which in the 
very nature of things cannot be brought together in great 
agglomerations. But after all, Nature has been subjected to 
man's commands, and if the English people and the East 
Indians were to exchange places, it is altogether likely that 
India would become a land of great cities and England an 
agricultural country with a scattered population. Hence in 
Australia, it is not a sufficient explanation to say that the 
physical features of the country (few harbors, few rivers, 
vast plains suitable for grazing) are the determining factor. 
It is rather the alertness with which the progressive Austral- 
ian democracy has adjusted itself to the requirements of the 
modern industrial organization with its international and 
local division of labor. Australia has no anciently estab- 
lished manufactures like those of old England, nor even the 
vigorous "infant industries" of New England. On the con- 
trary, Australia has vast tracts of unoccupied lands tempting 
men to agriculture. The main reasons why the Australians 
prefer to remain in the seaboard cities rather than settle the 
interior is that nineteenth century industry requires few 
workers on the land. In European countries the process of 
agglomeration proceeds more slowly because the superfluous 
agriculturists have been brought up on the farm, and have to 
overcome the inertia of their position in order to find their 
true place in the industrial organism ; it requires a distress- 
ful agricultural depression like the one that has prevailed 
since 1893 to bring home to the agriculturist the conviction 
that his labor is not wanted on the farm. But in Australia 
the mass of the population has been in the seaboard cities. 



150 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



where the emigrants land, and consequently has no such 
inertia to overcome. Australia is therefore the representa- 
tive of the new order of things, toward which the modern 
world is advancing. 

It is thus in the dynamic rather than the static aspect that 
the true significance of the agglomeration of population 
manifests itself. The reasons why the distribution of popula- 
tion in England is so different from that in India are clearly 
seen when one studies the causes of the movement which has 
made the England of to-day so dififerent, as regards the dis- 
tribution of population, from the England of 1800. Then it 
will appear that the physical features of, say, England and 
India, count for less as a factor in the problem than the qual- 
ities of the race and its progress in material civilization. It 
is not to be denied that even the material civilization of a 
country depends upon its natural advantages to a certain ex- 
tent, but the principal consideration after all is the use to 
which such advantages are put by their possessors. China 
is known to be rich in coal and iron — the fundamental ele- 
ments of machine industry — but China has not become a 
great industrial nation like England. While, therefore, the 
topography and the resources of the country and also the 
density of its population do sometimes influence the distribu- 
tion of the population (notably Australia, Turkey, Uruguay, 
Argentina), in the majority of cases it is economic organiza- 
tion that constitutes the decisive influence. 

If now the percentages of urban population in the different 
countries given in Table CXII, be compared for the years 
1800, 1850, and 1890, as in the accompanying diagram, it 
will be found that the urban growth has very generally taken 
place since 1850. The exceptions are England and Scot- 
land, the United States, and in a smaller degree, Belgium, 
Saxony and France. In the two former, the process of con- 
centration wrought greater changes in 1800-50 than in 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 

O rT I/O lis- 



iSi 




49- Russia 



census years. (Based on Table CXII.) 
NoxK.-Saxonys first percentage should be 8.9 for xSr^, instead of ,.5 for x8oo; that of ^ 



stead 



'France 95 in- 



152 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



1850-90. But in many other countries the movement had 
scarcely begun in 1850. In Denmark and Holland, indeed, 
the urban percentage actually diminished during the first 
half century. In Portugal there has been a continual diminu- 
tion, lasting, it appears, down to the present time. The 
following table showing roughly the principal periods of 
rapid concentration serves to make clearer the analysis : 

TABLE CXIV. 

England 1820-30, 1840-50 

Prussia 1871-80, 1880-90 

United States 1840-50, 1860-70, 1880-90 

France 1850-60, 1860-70 

Austria 1846-57, 1 880-90 

Hungary 1850-57, 188090 

Russia 1870-97 

Sweden 1880-90, 1860-70 

Norway 1875-91, 1865-75 . 

Denmark 1870-90 

Netherlands 1880-90, 1870-80 

Belgium 1866-80, 1880-90 

Switzerland 1850-60, 1880-88 

Canada 1881-91, 1871-S1 

Australia 1881-91, 1871-&1 

This amounts to a demonstration that the Industrial Revo- 
lution and the era of railways, both of which opened earliest 
in England and the United States, have been the transform- 
ing agents in the re-distribution of population. They are the 
elementary forces in the bringing about of Modern Capital- 
ism. And the effects of their introduction into the conti- 
nental countries of Europe are to be observed at the present 
time. The re-distribution of population is accomplished not 
only by a movement from the fields to the cities, but also by 
migration across the seas. This is a factor of prime import- 
ance, for example, in the Scandinavian countries, whence 
issues an emigration second only to that from Ireland.^ 

^ Thus the emigration in the last 70 years from the countries specified bore 
the following relations to the total population of those countries in 1890-91 : 

Immigrants Total pop. in 1890-91 

From to the UnitedStates. in millions. Ratio. 

Ireland 3,481,074 4,7 74. 

Norway and Sweden .... 925,031 6,8 13.5 

Germany 4,504,128 49, 9.2 

England and Wales 1,637,065 29, 8.6 

(^iith Cen., Pop., i, p. Ixxxi.) 



STATISTICS OF URBAN GROWTH 153 

In conclusion, it may prove of interest to place in com- 
parison with the European countries of large urban popula- 
tions, some of the American commonwealths. Of the four 
great Western nations, Great Britain very considerably out- 
ranks the others, which are very close together. France 
comes fourth, while Germany (Prussia) and the United 
States are very nearly equal. But the German urban statis- 
tics, as have been shown, are based on the Gemeinde (town- 
ship) which gives it an advantage, and it is to be noted that 
if the comparison be restricted to cities of 20,000+ or 100,- 
000+, the United States clearly ranks above both Germany 
and France. The only considerable portion of Germany that 
has a larger urban population than the United States is 
Saxony, a country somewhat more than half as large as 
Massachusetts,^ which has an urban percentage of 66 to 
Saxony's 35. 

Table CXV.^ 
Percentage of population in towns of 10,000 -i. 

Massachusetts 65.9 Uruguay 30.4 

Eng. and Wales 61.7 Ohio 30.2 

Rhode Island 57.9 Prussia 30.0 

New York 57.7 Utah _. 28.7 

New Jersey 50.9 Washington 28.3 

Scotland 49.9 Argentina 27.8 

Maryland 43.9 Minnesota 27.7 

Connecticut 41.9 UNITED STATES 27.6 

(Australia 414) '^ France 25.9 

California 41 .0 Missouri 25.6 

Pennsylvania 39.1 New Hampshire 24.8 

Illinois 38.1 Michigan 23.9 

Colorado 37.1 Louisiana 23.7 

Delaware 36.5 Denmark 23.6 

Belgium 34.8 Wisconsin 22.5 

Saxony 34.7 Nebraska 22.2 

Netherlands 33.5 Italy 20.6 

(Australia 32.2)' Bavaria 20.5 

'Area of Saxony, 5,787 sq. miles; Massachusetts, 8,315. 

2 Based on Tables XI and CXII. 

* Varies with the inclusion or exclusion of suburbs of Sydney, etc. 



154 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



This table shows that while the United States as a whole 
has a smaller urban percentage than several other countries, 
it contains States as large as those foreign countries, with, 
larger urban percentages. Scotland, Belgium, Saxony, Hol- 
land and Uruguay are all small countries as compared even 
with American commonwealths. Even England and Wales 
embrace an area of only ^'j^'jQ^ square miles, which is almost 
precisely equal to the combined territory of New York, Mas- 
sachusetts and Rhode Island. And 60 per cent, of the aggre- 
gate population of these commonwealths live in cities of 
1 0,000-1-, while in Massachusetts alone the percentage rises 
to 65.9. Nor is this large percentage due to the large terri- 
torial extent of the Massachusetts town, for in 1895 the ag- 
gregate population of the State living under city government 
formed 65.43 per cent, of the total; and the smallest of the 
cities (Beverly) had a population of 1 1,806.^ Twelve Amer- 
ican commonwealths rank above Prussia in urban popula- 
tion and contain 26 million people to Prussia's 30 million. 
These facts should be remembered when it comes to com- 
paring the continental United States with the small countries 
of Europe. 

' Census of Mass., i8g_5, i., 48-49. 



CHAPTER III. 

CAUSES OF THE CONCENTRATION OF POPULATION. 
I. INTRODUCTORY. 

In seeking the causes of the remarkable concentration of 
population that has taken place in most of the civilized 
countries of the globe during the last fifty or one hundred 
years, careful discrimination must be made between this 
phenomenon and the growth of cities as a mere accompani- 
ment to the general increase of population. The real checks 
upon the growth of population in previous centuries were 
war, famine, pestilence, and insanitary cities involving par- 
ticularly high infantile mortality. Hence, as soon as the 
progress of medical and sanitary science, transportation 
methods, industrialism and the other factors of modern 
civiHzation had mitigated the " scourges of mankind," there 
followed a period of unprecendented increase of population 
in all Western countries. In this general increase, the cities 
have naturally participated — and have even outrun smaller 
communities and scattered populations. For it was in 
crowded centres that modern science was most needed to 
render the conditions of life healthful. Throughout the 
middle ages and the earlier centuries of modern times, the 
cities of Europe depended almost entirely upon the influx of 
country people for their growth ; the mortality was so high 
that the deaths annually equalled or exceeded in number the 
births. London was no worse off than other European 
cities, Paris and one or two other places possibly excepted ; 
and yet London's birth-rate never exceeded its death-rate, 

(I5S) 



1^6 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

for any considerable period, until the very beginning of the 
nineteenth century. It is a patent fact that the rapid growth 
of London in the present century has been in part due to its 
ability to confine the mortality within reasonable bounds 
and thus secure a natural increase (an excess of births over 
deaths) ; the natural increase has of course steadily aug- 
mented with the constant improvements in municipal admin- 
istration and the application of the discoveries of medical 
science. 

Nevertheless, the transformation of a deficiency into an 
excess of births is not the essential reason of city-growth, 
which must rather be sought in economic conditions. Com- 
paring, for example, the demographical statistics of the 
French cities for the decade 1881-1891 it will be found that 
Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux had fewer births than 
deaths ; and yet they surpassed the other large cities of 
France (Roubaix and Lille alone excepted) in their rate of 
growth.^ 

The " mushroom " growth of American cities, which has 
been the subject of considerable comment, should occasion 
no surprise, since it is mainly due to the settlement of un- 
cultivated territory. It is only when the growth of a city 
has proceeded more rapidly than the development of its 
contributory territory, that one needs to study other under- 
lying causes. For then one is face to face with the problem 

' Cf. Statistisches yahrbuch der Stadt Berlin, xix (1892), pp. 94-5 : 

Natural increase Total 

or decrease. increase. 

Paris 4-2.36 8.54 

Lyons — 1.23 iP-73 

Marseilles — 2.56 12.34 

Lille 4-7.08 17.86 

Bordeaux — 0.85 I4'I9 

Roubaix +13.38 24,40 

The Italian statistics show even more striking instances, but owing to the ab- 
sence of a regular census since 1881, they cannot be trusted. 



CA USES 



157 



of the concentration of population, — an increasing proportion 
of the population collected in cities. 

While, then, it is generally true that the unprecedented 
increase of population during the present century has been 
a condition of the rapid growth of cities, it has not necessa- 
rily been a positive cause of their relatively rapid growth as 
compared with the remainder of the population — a cause, 
that is, of the phenomenon of concentration. Positive forces 
may exist to drive a larger proportion of people into the 
rural districts notwithstanding an all-round increase in popu- 
lation. Such has been the actual result in Portugal, where, 
if statistics are not at fault, a smaller percentage of the in- 
habitants is living in cities to-day than in the middle of the 
century.^ On the other hand, the cities of France have been 
enjoying a rapid growth all the time that the population of 
the country has as a whole has been virtually at a standstill, 
and those of Ireland have likewise grown while the popula- 
tion in general has declined. 

It is now clear that the growth of cities must be studied as 
a part of the question of distribution of population, which 
is always dependent upon the economic organization of 
society — upon the constant striving to maintain as many 
people as possible upon a given area. The ever-present 
problem is so to distribute and organize the masses of men 
that they can render such services as favor the maintenance 
of the nation and thereby accomplish their own preservation. 
Population follows the line of least resistance in its distribu- 
tion, and will consequently be affected by changes in the 
methods of production. When the industrial organization 
demands the presence of laborers in particular localities in 
order to increase its efficiency, laborers will be found there ; 
the means of attraction will have been "better living" — in 
other words, an appeal to the motive of self-interest. Econ- 

1 Cf. Table LXXXII. 



158 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



omic forces are therefore the principal cause of concentration 
of population in cities ; but there are other motives exhibited 
in the " Drift to the Cities," and these will also receive con- 
sideration. 

What, now, are the economic forces that have caused the 
massing of people in large communities? The business 
man's answer would probably be short and trenchant, ^^ 
" Steam." Literary critics and dilettantes in political econ- 
omy pronounce the present era of great cities a result of the 
" centripetal tendencies of steam," and congratulate their 
readers upon the dawning of a new era wherein the " centri- 
fugal powers of electricity" will disperse the population of 
crowded tenements. 

Steam and machinery have certainly been among the most 
important influences tending toward the concentration of pop- 
ulation ; but neither steam nor machinery was used by the 
ancient Egyptians, Medes, Phoenicians, Greeks, or Romans, 
who nevertheless built great cities. The fact is that no one 
human instrument can be held accountable for such an im- 
portant social phenomenon, and one cannot make clear to 
oneself the true causes in their true relation without viewing 
the social body in its entirety. That is to say, a successful 
investigation of the causes of the city growth set forth in 
the preceding chapter must begin with a study of social, or 
more strictly speaking, economic evolution. 

According to Herbert Spencer, evolution consists of two 
distinct processes — a dififerentiation and an integration.' By 
differentiation, he means increase of heterogeneity out of 
originally homogeneous conditions. By integration, he 

*" Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion, 
during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a 
definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes 
a parallel transformation." — Spencer, First Principles, Sec. 145. 



CA USES 



159 



means a growing inter-relation and inter-dependence of parts. 
A simple biological analogy will serve to make clear the 
process. The lowest type of organism is simply an agglo- 
meration of like cells ; the creature is all stomach, all mouth, 
all hands and feet, so to speak. It has no special organs ; one 
part of the body is just like the other parts. The first rude 
diflferentiation is into two layers, which develop later into a 
sustaining and a regulating system. A third stage is found 
in the formation of organs — the heart, stomach, eye, ear, etc. 
— each of which assumes a single function and performs it 
for the entire body. But in order to effect this distribution 
or specialization of functions, in which each organ relieves 
all the others of its special work, a system of complete and 
intimate communication between the parts must first be de- 
veloped. That is to say, with differentiation, specialization, 
or division of labor, as we choose to call it, there must always 
go integration or combination. 

Now, without stretching the analogy, we may liken indus- 
trial society of to-day — embracing all countries within the cir- 
cle of exchange of products — to a great organism composed 
of heterogeneous parts. This organism, however, is the pro- 
duct of ages of slow growth. Originally, in place of the one 
all-embracing social organism, there were myriads of small 
social units, each complete in itself and independent of the 
others, if not positively hostile to them. The history of civ- 
ilization is simply the narrative description of the breaking 
down of the barriers that separated the primitive social units 
— the original family group, clan, patriarchal family, the en- 
larged village community or the manorial group. And the 
most conspicuous and influential role in the process was 
played by the trader, working upon men's desires for what 
they did not possess or produce. Neither war (conquest) 
nor religion has been of so vital and far-reaching influence 
in the integration and amalgamation of isolated social groups 
as trade and commerce. 



l60 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

When, therefore, it is pointed out that towns owe their 
origin to trade, that the commercial metropolis of to-day is 
the successor of the primitive market-place established 
beside the boundary stone between hostile but avaricious 
tribal groups, that the extension of the market means the en- 
largement of the market-centre — then one will readily per- 
ceive the connection of the growth of industrial society to its 
present world-wide dimensions with our problem of the con- 
centration of population. The relations of transportation 
systems and means of communication to commerce and 
commercial centres will therefore form one of the subjects of 
discussion. 

The other side of the process, differentiation, involves, as 
we have seen, extensive changes in the units themselves. 
The results of territorial specialization, or the geographical 
division of labor, upon manufacturing and other industries 
will therefore require consideration. Special attention should 
also be given to the internal structure of industry, or the 
form of business organization in the various stages of evolu- 
tion, as bearing directly upon the problem of concentration. 

But first it is necessary to consider the negative side of the 
subject — that is, how the forces making for the dispersion of 
population have steadily lost ground in the evolution of soci- 
ety. The diminishing importance of agriculture will there- 
fore constitute the first topic of discussion. 

n. THE DIVORCE OF MEN FROM THE SOIL. 

If men were like other animals and had no further wants 
than bodily appetites and passions, there would be no large 
aggregations of people ; for in order to produce food, men 
must live either in scattered habitations like American farm- 
ers, or in hamlets like the ancient family or tribal group, the 
village community, the Russian mir, and the modern agri- 
cultural village of Continental Europe. Even with a com- 



CAUSES l6l 

paratively high grade of wants, men may live in these small 
groups, each of which is economically autonomous and self- 
sufficing, producing for itself and buying and selling little if 
anything. It is the period of the Naturalwirthschaft, in which 
all payments are in kind. The principle of division of labor 
finally led to the disruption of the village'community, but its 
triumph was long delayed. The principle was of course 
grasped only imperfectly by primitive man. At first the 
only division of labor was that based on sex, age, muscular 
power, or relation to the governing head of the group ; in 
other respects there was no assignment of special tasks to 
particular individuals. Very gradually men discovered 
among themselves differences of natural aptitude. The 
members of a community at length realized that it was more 
economical to have their flour made in a village mill by one 
member who should give all his time to that particular work, 
than to have it made by bits in a score of individual mills. 
One by one other industries have followed the mill — have 
departed from the separate households and taken up their 
abode in a central establishment. Clothing ceased to be 
made at home ; there arose a village weaver and a village 
shoemaker. To this process of development there is almost 
no conceivable end. Only a few years ago the American 
farmer not only raised his own food, but furnished his own 
fuel and sometimes made his own clothing. Now, however, 
he is a specialist, and thinks nothing of going to the market 
even for table supplies. Formerly, the farmer made his own 
tools ; now he buys implements made in factories. But yes- 
terday, and the men who reaped the fields of ripe grain were 
bound to the soil and compelled to dwell in isolated homes 
or small communities ; to-day these men live in cities and 
make machinery to reap the grain. 

Thus, it appears that agriculture, the industry that dis- 
perses men, has ever narrowed its scope. Formerly, when 



1 62 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

men's wants were few and simple, agriculture was the all- 
embracing occupation. The agriculturist produced the neces- 
sary sustenance, and in his idle moments made whatever else 
he needed. But human wants have greatly multiplied and 
can no longer be satiated with food-products alone. More- 
over, the business of providing for the new wants has been 
separated from agriculture. The total result is that the pro- 
portion of people who must devote themselves to the satis- 
faction of the elementary wants of society has vastly dimin- 
ished and is still diminishing. 

And this result is attained not only by the diminishing 
importance of bread and butter in the realm of human wants, 
but also by the increased per capita product which a special- 
ized body of workers can win from the soil. By the use of 
fertilizers, by highly scientific methods of cultivation, by 
labor-saving machinery, and by the construction of transpor- 
tation systems to open up distant and virgin fields, the pres- 
ent century has immensely reduced the relative number of 
workers who must remain attached to the soil to provide 
society's food-supply. 

These facts are of fundamental importance in seeking the 
causes of urban growth. For cities are made up of persons 
who do not cultivate the soil ; their existence presupposes a 
surplus food-supply, which in turn premises either great 
fertility of the soil or an advanced stage of the agricultural 
arts, and in either case convenient means of transportation. 
All three conditions were present in the river valleys of the 
Nile and Euphrates when the first great cities of history 
arose — Thebes, Memphis, Babylon, and Nineveh. No accu- 
rate estimates of the number of their inhabitants exist ; but 
as the Greeks, who had cities of their own with at least loo,- 
ooo inhabitants, regarded the ancient cities with wonder, it 
may safely be said that they were great cities. Similar con- 
ditions were present during the period of Roman city civili- 



CAUSES 163 

zation. The high perfection to which the arts of agriculture 
had been brought (only recently approached, perhaps, in 
the modern era), permitted the existence of a large number 
of Oriental cities with a population of 100,000 or more in 
the first century before Christ. Two cities, Rome and 
Alexandria, probably attained a population of half a million 
souls each — a number reached by no other cities until the 
end of the seventeenth century (London and Paris)/ 

The Italian peninsula could not furnish sufificient bread- 
stuffs for the growing population of Rome, and had to import 
them from other Mediterranean countries. The difficulties 
of transportation, while doubtless great,^ were not to be com- 
pared with the difficulties of acquiring the grain by the 
method of legal appropriation. No very large portion of 
the supply was ever bought and paid for with the products 
of industry, for Rome was never an industrial city. The 
grain was regarded as one of the fruits of conquest, and was 
seized by the governors of the Provinces as legitimate 
tribute. Had Rome contained a manufacturing population, 
able to pay for its own food-supply, it is more than likely 
that the difficulties of transportation would have been over- 
come. It is only in this sense, if at all, that there is any 
truth in the contention of those writers who maintain that 
the fall of Rome was due to lack of means of communication 
with the provinces. 

^ On the population of ancient cities, see Beloch, Die Bevolkerung der 
griechisch-rdmischen Welt. The same writer gave an excellent survey of the 
development of the great cities of Europe from the earliest times, in an address 
before the eighth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography at 
Budapest in 1894; cf. the Report of the Proceedings, vii, 55-61. See also his 
article "Zur Bevolkerungsgeschichte des Altertums " in yahrbilcher filr National- 
okonomie und Statistik (1897), ^^ • 37^ ■^^?' 

* Augustus is said once to have been on the verge of suicide out of fear lest his 
overdue corn-ships should not arrive. — Hume, Essay on the Populousness oj 
Ancient Nations, 



1 64 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Within the last century the difficulties of transportation 
that troubled Rome so much have been solved by England, 
which likewise had to look to foreign countries for its food- 
supply. Not only that, but science has become so useful a 
handmaid of agriculture that the farmer, by using a little 
more capital, secures a larger product without adding to his 
labor force. The net result of progress in these two direc- 
tions is the removal of a surplus rural population to the 
manufacturing and commercial districts (cities), for "when 
the rural population has once become sufficiently numerous 
to carry on cultivation in the most profitable way, all further 
growth becomes disadvantageous ; whereas the materials 
with which the varied manufactures deal are practieally 
unlimited in amount and there is no other check to possible 
growth to such industries than the difficulty of finding 
markets for their products. " 

The improvements that have taken place in agricultural 
methods within the last one hundred and fifty years have 
been almost unprecedented ; but they have been so over- 
shadowed in the minds of economists and statisticians by the 
revolutionary changes in manufactures and transportation 
that they have hardly received their due share of attention. 
We hear often enough of the Industrial Revolution in Eng- 
land in the second half of the eighteenth century, but we 
seldom hear of the Agrarian Revolution that took place at 
about the same time. 

English agriculture had been progressing throughout the 
eighteenth century ; while population had doubled itself, the 
number of persons engaged in agriculture had decreased not 
only relatively, but down to 1770, actually.' But the revo- 
lution in English agriculture, whereby unscientific methods 
were replaced with scientific methods, is connected with the 

^ Prothero, The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, p. 38. 



CAUSES 1 5^ 

enclosure of the common lands, which began to be carried 
out on a large scale in the reign of George III, beginning in 
1760.^ The results of the enclosures were the extension of 
arable cultivation to inferior and waste lands, the destruction 
of the antiquated common-field system, whereby one-third 
of the land lay fallow each year, the consolidation of small 
farms into large and the consequent introduction of the prin- 
ciple of rotation of crops, of roots and artificial grasses, and 
other improved methods.^ The common-field system, ac- 
cording to Arthur Young, yielded 17-18 bushels of wheat 
per acre, the new system of large farms 26; the fleece of 
sheep pastured on common fields weighed only 3^ pounds 
as compared with 9 pounds on enclosures,^ Bakewell 
( 1 725-1 794), whom a French writer pronounces "un homme 
de genie qui a fait autant pour la richesse de son pays que 
ses contemporains Arkwright et Watt,"-* began scientific 
stock-breeding ; as a result of his efforts and the enclosure 
of the common pasture land, "during whose existence the 
cattle were stunted if not starved," the average size of cattle 
was greatly increased with scarcely any increase in expen- 
diture.s At the Smithfield Market the average weight of 
animals was 

In Beeves. 

1710 370 lbs. 

1795 800 " 

The consequence of all these improvements was to set free 
a vast number of men who found employment in the new 
manufacturing industries which were supplying the markets 

^ Cf. the table in Prothero, op. cit., p. 257. 

*Prothero; cf. also Toynbee, ThelndustrialRevolution, 88-9 (Humboldt ed.). 

' Gibbins, Industrial History of England, 117. 

* Prothero, op. cit., 49. 

''Ibid.,t,i. 



Calves. 


Sheep. 


Lambs. 


5° 


28 


18 


148 


80 


50 



1 66 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

of the world. "The enclosures drove the laborers off the 
land because it became impossible for them to exist without 
their rights of pasturage for sheep and geese on common 
lands." ' At the same time the consolidation of farms re- 
duced the number of farmers.^ Thus, while the acreage 
under production and the aggregate product have greatly 
increased since 1750, the agricultural population has declined 
relatively to the industrial population. In 1770, Arthur 
Young estimated the total population of England at eight and 
one-half millions, of which three and one-half millions were 
agricultural and three millions manufacturing. Although 
the total numbers are too large, the proportions may be 
accepted as approximately correct.^ Comparing these pro- 
portions with the results of census returns in the present 
century, we have the following table : ^ 

Proportion of agr. pop. 
to entire pop. 

1770 42 per cent. 

1811 34 " 

1821 32 

1831 28 

184I 22 " 

The figures since 1841 may be omitted, inasmuch as a 
decline in the aggregate production of cereals then began,^ 

^ Toynbee, op. cit., 89. 

* Cobbett, writing in 1826, mentioned a single fanner who held " the lands that 
the now living remember to have formed fourteen farms, bringing up in a respect- 
able way fourteen families." (Quoted by Toynbee, op. cit., 89.) This, however, 
cannot be considered a typical case. Arthur Young found in i8oi that of thirty- 
seven enclosed parishes in Norfolk, the population had increased in twenty-four, 
diminished in eight, and remained stationary in five. (Prothero, op. cit., 72.) 
There could have been no such extensive rural depopulation as took place in the 
period of the sixteenth century enclosures, because now the object of the change 
was not more pasturage, but increased tillage. 

' Gibbins, Ind, Hist, of Eng., p. 152. 

* Prothero, op. cit., in. 

^Following upon the repeal of the corn laws in 1846. 



CAUSES 167 

and there would naturally be a decrease in the agricultural 
population. But up to the middle of the century England 
had grown the bulk of her own wheat, and the importations 
were mostly confined to the years of poor crops. The table 
therefore shows that while in 1770 42 per cent, of the popu- 
lation was attached to the soil in order to produce the nation's 
food-supply, in 1841 but 22 per cent, of the population was 
required for this purpose, thus leaving 78 per cent, to settle 
wherever other industries determined. 

The increase in agricultural production might be followed 
out in other countries, but it would be unprofitable, inasmuch 
as England's progress is typical. A distinguished French 
authority wrote about the middle of this century that the 
total produce of French agriculture had doubled since the 
Revolution.^ But it is very improbable that the agricultural 
population of France increased by more than 20 per cent, in 
that period. 

In the United States, where machinery has been so exten- 
sively applied to agriculture, there is no lack of evidence as 
to the increased production per cultivator. Consider the 
application to agriculture of some of the most ingenious 
machinery invented by a nation of especial mechanical 
talent. Consider also the results of farming on a large scale 
by capitalistic methods. We hear of immense farms in the 
West Hke that of Dr. Glinn in California, who has 45,000 
acres under wheat ; and Mulhall estimates that one farmer 
like Dr. Glinn, with a field of wheat covering a hundred 
square miles, can raise as much grain with 400 farm servants 
as can 5,000 peasant proprietors in France.^ It is no easy 
matter to estimate the saving in labor force which American 
methods have accomplished on the farm, but Mr. Mulhall 
may not be altogether out of the way. The special agent of 

^ L. de Lavergne, &conomie rurale de la France depuis lySg, 2d ed., p. 59. 
* Progress of the World (1880), p. 499. 



1 68 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

the Tenth Census, who reported on Interchangeable Mechan- 
ism, made a somewhat more conservative estimate. Mr. 
Fitch said : " It is estimated by careful men, thoroughly- 
conversant with the changes that have taken place, that in 
the improvement made in agricultural tools, the average 
farmer can, with sufficient horse-power, do with three men 
the work of fifteen men forty years ago, and do it better." ^ 
Nor is this all of America's contribution ; her improvements 
in the raising of grain and production of meats have been 
matched by her improvements in the handling and marketing 
of the same supplies ; by cutting down the wastes of distribu- 
tion, such improvements reduce the amount of agricultural 
labor needed. The importance of transportation in bringing 
new lands into the area of cultivation for the world market 
has already been mentioned. But transportation, in connec- 
tion with the other modern mechanics of exchange, econo- 
mizes the amount of agricultural labor by diminishing the 
need of over-production, and thus equalizing the supply in 
space and time. The auxiliaries of transportation are char- 
acteristically American methods of centralization.^ Instead 
of the multitude of small buyers who conduct the grain busi- 
ness in Europe, America has concentrated the trade in the 
hands of a smaller number of large firms who have built the 
great grain-elevators and developed the system of handling 
grain in bulk, which, as much as anything else, has enabled 
American grain to enter the markets of the world. In no 
other field have American business ability and capacity for 
organization produced greater economies; for along with 
the improvement in the technical means of handling grain, 
there has been developed a more efficient system of credit, 
of buying and selling (produce exchanges ! ), etc.3 The grand 

^ zoth Cen.y Mfs. (Section on Agricultural Implements), p. 76. 
* See Sering, Die Landwirthschaftliche Konkurrenz Nordamerikas, 491 seq. 
' For example, the grading of wheat whereby it is bought and sold without the 
use of samples. 



CAUSES 169 

result is an equal distribution of the food supply to all coun- 
tries within the area of exchange. Local surpluses are 
abolished. Local scarcities are also abolished and therewith 
the fear of famine, which necessitated the maintenance of 
stores of grain. Both the surpluses and the stores denoted 
over-production, or the occupation of more laborers in till- 
ing the soil than society really needed. They are now free 
to settle where they choose. 

III. THE GROWTH OF COMMERCIAL CENTRES. 

[Authorities. — Easily the best survey of economic evolution is Professor Karl Biicher's essay 
on Die Entstehung der Volkswirthsckaft (Tubingen, 1893), a brilliant piece of work which 
ought long since to have been translated into English. Professor Schmoller's interpretation of 
economic history differs little from Professor Biicher's, and one of his studies of " Die Wirth- 
schaftspolitik Friedrichs des Grossen," which contains his views, has been published in English as 
one of Professor Ashley's " Economic Classics " under the title of The Mercantile System. With 
this should be read Herbert Spencer's treatment of " Industrial Institutions " in the third volume 
of his Principles of Sociology. 

The general features of economic organization are described in such works as Cunningham's 
Growth of English Industry and Commerce (2 vols., Cambridge, 1890-1), and Ashley's Intro- 
duction to English Economic History (2 vols., New York, 1888-93). The town economy will 
be understood by readers of Mrs. J. R. Green's Town Life in the Fifteenth Century (2 vols.. 
New York, 1894). The patriarchal family is familiar to Americans from the works of Sir Henry 
Maine {Ancient Law and Village Cotnmunities), Heam, (The Aryan Household) , de Cou- 
langes (The Ancient City), and W. W. Fowler (The City State of the Greeks and Romans). 
For the abundant literature on the mark and the manor, the reader is referred to the bibliographies 
in Ashley. 

The origin and location of towns is treated in a philosophic manner by Roscher in the introduc- 
tory chapter of his work on commerce and industry ; Systejn der Volkswirthschaft, dritter 
Band, Die Nationaldkonomik des Handels und Gewerbefleisses, " Einleitung — Aus der Natur- 
lehre des Stadtewesens im Allgeimenen." Roscher further develops the theory of the location of 
cities in an essay " Ueber die geographische Lage der grossen Stadte," published in his A nsichten 
der Volkswirthschaft, vol. i. Cf. the work by J. C. Kohl, Die geographische Lage der Haupi- 
stadten Europas,a.iiA. the latter's standard work, Der Verkehr und die Ansiedelungen der 
Menschen in ihrer Abhdngigkeit von der Gestaltung der Erdoberflciche, 1843. This was 
written before the era of railways, however, and is in some respects superseded by the later works: 
E. Sax, Die Verkekrsmittel in Volks- und Staats7uirthschaft,'V\enxia., 1878; A. de Foville, 
De la Tratisfortnation des Moyens de Transport et ses Consequences economiques et sociales, 
Paris, 1880; the most recent treatment is by a young American, Dr. C. H. Cooley, whose book 
(The Theory of Transportation, in Publications of the American Economic Association) will 
interest the general reader as well as the trained economist; it is by far the best study of the sub- 
ject in English, but, like the others, is written from the standpoint of transportation. Sir James 
Stewart devotes a chapter of his Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy to this sub- 
ject (" What are the Principles which regulate the Distribution of Inhabitants into Farms, Vil- 
lages, Hamlets, Towns and Cities ") Chap, ix in vol. i of the Works of Stewart, edited by Gen. 
Sir J. Stewart, London, 1805). More recently the subject has been approached from the side of 
geography, e. g., Ratzel's Anthropo-geographie, vol. ii, §§ 12-14, in which connection may also 
be mentioned a paper by Prof. W. Z. Ripley on " Geography and Sociology " (with bibliography) 
in the Pol. Sc. Quar., x, 636-53.] 



I^O ^-^-^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

In point of time, the earliest economic force working for 
the concentration of the released agricultural population was 
trade. Without trade and commerce, indeed, no towns or 
cities could come into existence ; for they presuppose a non- 
agricultural population which buys its food-supply. When 
a portion of the tillers of the soil abandon agriculture and 
obtain their food-supplies by the exchange of other products 
of industry, the foundation of trade is laid ; the specializa- 
tion of functions, or the division of labor in its broad sense, 
has then begun its course, which tends to an ever-widening 
circle of exchange and enlargement of the commercial 
centres. The economic historians, in tracing the develop- 
ment of industrial society, are accustomed to distinguish 
three or four periods, in which the predominating types of 
organization were, respectively, (i) the household or village 
economy, (2) the town economy, (3) the national economy, 
(4) the international economy, toward which we are ap- 
proaching as the ultimate goal. The first period — repre- 
sented by such diverse human groups as the patriarchal 
family, the village community, mark or inir — is much the 
longest, and endured in Europe to about 1000 A. D.^ The 
characteristics of the village economy are generally familiar 
since the time of Sir Henry Maine. " The village is an 
economic and commercial system complete in itself and 
closed against the outside world." Salt, iron, and in the 
later stages, tar and millstones, were the only commodities 
brought into the village from the outside.^ 

^ That is, in the advanced countries. It lasted until quite recently in Russia. 
Cf. Hourwich, Economics of (he Russian Village (Columbia Studies). 

* The Mercantile System, 5, 6. " It is hardly possible for [a villager] to come 
into closer intercourse with outsiders; for to remove any of the products, whether 
they may be derived directly or indirectly from the common land, is forbidden." 
And Prof. Thorold Rogers says : " The trader did not exist in the villages. In most 
villages he hardly existed at the beginning of the present century. In my native 
village the first shop was opened, for general trade, about 60 years ago." (^Six 
Centuries of Work and Wages, p. 147.) 



CA USES 



171 



Trade was in fact impossible so long as villages were 
hostile to one another ; but even then, as Cunningham 
notes,^ its advantages were so clearly felt that the boundary- 
place between two or more townships came to be recognized 
as a neutral territory, where men might occasionally meet 
for mutual benefit. The boundary-stone was the prede- 
cessor of the market-cross and the neutral area around it of 
the market-place. Trade was also promoted by religious 
assemblies. From very early times, says Cunningham,'' men 
have gathered to celebrate the memory of some hero by 
funeral games, and this has given the occasion for meeting 
and trading ; so that fairs were held annually at places of 
burial. Mediaeval towns grew up around shrines and 
monasteries built at the graves of early martyrs.^ Other 
towns grew up around forts or the castles of feudal lords. 
It is remarked that many of the earliest English towns (leav- 
ing out of account the cities of the Roman period), were 
founded by the Danes, who were noted traders.* During 
the invasion of the Northmen, the garrisons of both Danes 
and English became nuclei of towns. But the most 
common origin of American and English towns is the 
primitive agricultural village, or a coalescence of several 
villages. Thus the latter origin is attested in numerous 
cities by the survival of several agricultural functionaries 
like haywards, pinders, molecatchers, etc.s And since 
facilities for trade were the primary cause of the develop- 
ment of village communities into towns, it follows that those 
villages which were situated at fording places, in the midst 
of a fertile plain, or on good trade routes, would be favored 

^Vol. i, p. 76. 

* Ibid., i, 90. 

* On the origin of ancient towns, see E. Kuhn, Ueber die Entstehung det 
Stadte der Allen, Leipzig, 1878. 

* Cunningham, op. cit., i, 88. * Ibid., i, 23. 



172 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



in growth. We are not especially concerned in this essay 
with the principles of city-location, and it will suffice 
merely to indicate the fundamental theory. It may, then, 
be stated with some confidence that while certain cities 
derived their location in former ages from proximity to a 
fort or a religious establishment ; while many modern cities 
have had their location determined by political reasons {e.g., 
Washington and many of our State capitals) ; while numer- 
ous cities in all periods have arisen in the vicinity of mines 
or other riches of the earth which furnished natural advan- 
tages for production — yet, nevertheless, the prevailing influ- 
ences in determining the location of cities are facilities for 
transportation. The greatness of an inland city will depend 
on the size of the plain for which it is the natural centre of 
distribution, and in a second degree on the fertility of soil, 
which determines the number of inhabitants in the plain.^ 
The factor of chief importance in the location of cities is a 
break in transportation. A mere transfer of goods will 
require considerable machinery; and so we find commercial 
centres at the confluence of rivers, head of navigation, fords, 
meeting-point of hill and plain, and other places where the 

^ Paris became the metropolis of France because it was the centre of a great 
plain including more than one-half of France; modern transportation has perpet- 
uated its natural advantages. In new countries, however, transportation tends to 
emancipate cities from this condition of dependence. Botzow (" Bodenbeschaf- 
fenheit und Bevolkerung in Preussen," Zeitschrift des preussischen statistischen 
Bureaus, xxi, 287-91), aims to show that density of population is largely deter- 
mined by the fertility of soil, even in the industrial stage. The number of in- 
habitants to each 100 square kilometres of territory (excluding water surface) for 
the rich and the poor soils was : 

Good soils. 

Increase per 100 
inhabitants. 
1819. 1849. 1819-49. 11849-75. 

Urban... 1,259 1,891 150 170 
Rural ... 4,313 6,184 143 125 

Prussia.. 5,572 8,076 145 135 2,891 4,221 146 117 





Poor : 


SOILS. 

Increase per 100 
inhabitants. 


I8I9. 


1849. 


1819-49. 1849-75. 


170 


260 


153 145 


2,723 


3.961 


145 "5 



CAUSES 



173 



physical configuration requires a change of vehicle. But the 
greatest centres will be those where the physical transfer of 
goods is accompanied with a change of ownership ; there is 
then added to the mechanical apparatus of temporary storage 
and transfer, the complex mechanism of commercial ex- 
change. Importers and exporters, merchants and money- 
changers accumulate vast wealth and require the presence 
of other classes to satisfy their wants, and population will 
grow rapidly. It is therefore easy to understand why so 
many of the large cities of the world are commercial centres, 
if not actual seaports. Every great city owes its eminence 
to commerce, and even in the United States, where the rail- 
ways are popularly supposed to be the real city-makers, all 
but two of the cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants are situ- 
ated upon navigable waters;^ the most rapidly growing cities 
of their class in the country are the lake ports, Chicago, Buf- 
alo, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, etc.^ One would expect 
that, in a country where cities have been located since the 
advent of railways, the matter of water communication would 
be of minor importance. That this is not the case shows the 
one-sidedness of the reasoning that steam alone is the funda- 
mental cause of the concentration of population.3 In Europe, 

^ The exceptions are Indianapolis and Denver. In its early days, however, In- 
dianapolis was the seat of a considerable river trade. Denver, which is situated 
on the south fork of the small Platte river, is a great railway and distributing 
centre, reaching both the mining regions of the mountains and the agricultural 
districts of the plains. It is at once interesting and instructive to study a topo- 
graphical map showing, along with the physical features of the coimtry, the loca- 
tion of the principal cities. (Such maps may be found in the Statistical Atlas of 
the United States, the Census Reports on Transportation, and Cramps Universal 
Atlas, 1897, p. ZZ^ 

' ''■ In his suggestive study of the " Density and Distribution of Population in the 
United States at the Eleventh Census " (^Economic Studies of the American Eco- 
nomic Assn., 11,448), Prof. Willcox emphasizes the fact that the most rapidly 
growing cities are the commercial centres, and especially the lake ports. 

' There are a number of cities in central New York — Rochester, Utica, Syra- 



174 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



too, the traveller is struck with the frequency with which 
the blue strips of water appear on the street maps of cities in 
his guide books. That not all the large cities of Europe are 
situated on navigable rivers, lakes or seas, is due not to their 
recent foundation as railway centres, but to their original 
foundation for political or military reasons. New York's 
primacy depends upon her location at the junction of land 
and water transportation ; in New York occurs the change 
of ownership and transfer of goods in the commerce be- 
tween Europe and the United States. If the water route 
could be extended inland to Chicago by means of a ship 
canal, Chicago would become the terminus of European 
commerce, and in the course of time would with scarcely 
any doubt take from New York the rank of commercial and 
financial centre of the New World, and prospectively, of the 
globe. 

But, to return to the history of the growth of commerce, 
the primitive trading point at a fort, monastery, ford, castle 
or harbor, might long have remained a mere market-place or 
fair-ground, if the trading class had not attracted to it other 
industries, thus bringing about the division of labor. The 
earUest realization of this principle was in ancient times when 
the paterfamilias abandoned his farm and a portion of his 
dependents, and betook himself with another portion of his 

cuse, etc. — that owe their early growth to the Erie canal; the steam engine has 
but perpetuated them. And indeed the influence of steam on transportation 
methods is frequently exaggerated. Ocean commerce expanded rapidly before 
the application of steam to freight carriers. It is only two decades back that the 
marine engine was perfected; prior to 1875 ^^ ocean steamship had not been a 
formidable competitor of the sailing vessel. Even to-day sailing vessels constitute 
a large part of the shipping of the United States, especially in the coastwise trade. 
According to the Eleventh Census, 41 million tons of freight were carried in 
steamers along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico in 1889, and 40 million tons 
in sailing vessels. {^Compendium, \\\,OiOt^^ Finally, it should not be forgotten 
that the Roman world witnessed the foundation of great cities^without the aid of 
steam, thus testifying to the possibilities of water transportation routes. 



CAUSES 175 

slaves or dependents to the city. The Athenian lived upon 
food sent to him from his own Attic estate outside the city 
walls, and had almost everything else made for him by his 
own slaves. In the later Roman times the division of labor 
had been so far developed that some 150 different occupa- 
tions were carried on by the slaves of a single family/ In 
more recent times, when the original social unit was the vil- 
lage community of freemen, it was the artisan who abandoned 
the soil and went to live in the town. It is hardly necessary 
in this place to trace the process by which the members of 
the village group became differentiated into farmers and 
artisans. One member of the household after another, pos- 
sessing some particular gift of skill or strength, found it more 
advantageous to devote his whole time to one kind of work 
than to take his turn at the various tasks of the household. 
One man perhaps would begin by making all the shoes for 
the household ; having by long practice acquired more than 
the usual skill at shoemaking, he would offer his services to 
other households, travelHng about like a modern umbrella- 
mender or the village dress-maker. At length, instead of 
carrying a few tools about with him he would learn that he 
could do better by settling down in one place and augment- 

^ Prof. Biicher {op .cit., 25) quotes a Dutch work of the seventeenth century as 
enumerating 146 different occupations, and adds that modern scholarship has re- 
sulted in additions. The progress made in the separation of employment since 
then may be seen in the following figures giving the number of trades practiced 
at Frankfort, Germany, in the Middle Ages, compared vcith some ancient and 
modern figures in other lands : 

Rome 10—20 

Greece, 337 A. D 35 

Frankfort, 1387 148 

" 1440 ■ 191 

" 1500 300 

China, 1890 350 

Germany, 1882 4>785 

(SchmoUer, " Die Thatsachen der Arbeitsteilung," Jahrbuch fm- Gesetzgebung, 
Verwaltwtg und Volkszvirscka/t,-xm, 1045.) 



176 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



ing the number of his tools. And thus the shoemaker, the 
smith, the weaver, the dyer, the brewer, the bricklayer, the 
carpenter, accumulated capital and settled in the town. Such 
is the process of development of the free handicraftsman of 
the middle ages. 

The differentiation between town and country is an im- 
portant event in economic history, for it marks the separa- 
tion of industry from agriculture.' Adam Smith could say 
that " the great commerce of every civilized society is that 
carried on between the inhabitants of the town and those of 
the country."' But while the towns thus carry on trade 
with the surrounding agriculturists, each town is as tightly 
closed against other similar groups as was the original house- 
hold or village. This self-sufficing character of the mediaeval 
town is not easily realized by the American of to-day, unless 
he has traveled in some backward country of Europe where 
the towns close their gates at nightfall and levy octroi duties 
on incoming merchandise. Perhaps Prof. Schmoller's de- 
scription of town policy will aid in the realization of the sep- 
arateness of mediaeval communities : " Except during a fair, 
the foreigner was excluded from all retail trade, allowed to 
remain only a certain time, and prohibited from lending 
money to or entering into partnership with a burgess. He 
was burdened with heavier dues or fees for setting up a stall, 
for having his goods weighed, and for the services of brokers 
and exchangers. ... In short, the town market formed a 
complete system of currency, credit, trade, tolls and finance, 
shut up in itself, and managed as a united whole and on a 
settled plan ; a system which found its centre of gravity ex- 
clusively in its local interests, which carried on the struggle 

' Karl Marx says that " the foundation of every division of labor that is well de- 
veloped and brought about by the exchange of commodities is the separation be- 
tween town and country." Capital, p. 212 (Humboldt edition). So also Adam 
Smith, Bk. iii, ch. i. 



CAUSES lyj 

for economic advantages with its collective forces, and which 
prospered in proportion as the reins were firmly held in the 
council by prudent and energetic merchants and patricians 
able to grasp the whole situation." ^ 

Nor was the solicitude of the mediaeval town devoted to 
its market alone ; it was equally concerned in preventing the 
contributory territory from trading with other towns. The 
cattle and dairy products must be sent to the town-market 
in order to keep down the cost of living of the townspeople ; 
it would not do to have their produce go to other towns. 
Not only must the farmers not buy goods from any other 
town, but they must not make them for themselves ; just as 
in the i8th century the colonial system expressed the pohcy 
of the mother country to do all the manufacturing and to con- 
fine the colonists to the production of raw materials, so the 
town economy of the middle ages aimed to take away from 
the country every competing industry that it possibly could. 
In Germany, when the towns were not curbed by a royal 
hand, they forbade the countrymen to brew beer, etc. 

Now it is sufficiently obvious that, in an age when com- 
merce was chiefly confined to the trade between a town and 
the surrounding country, the commercial centres would not 
attain large dimensions ; and such was the character of the 
commerce that existed down to circa 1500 A. D., a fact apt 
to be forgotten when one thinks of the glory of Venice and 
the other Italian cities, which rested in the main upon foreign 
commerce. Nevertheless, this foreign commerce was con- 
cerned with draperies, silks, spices, gems, and other luxuries, 
and was really small in comparison with the annual com- 
merce between the towns and the surrounding country. 

The transition from the town economy to the national 
economy is often lost sight of in contemplation of the con- 

^ The Mercantile Systevi,-^. ii. Cf. Ashley, Introd. to Eng. Econ. Hist., vol. 
ii, bk. ii, ch. i, on the " Supremacy of the Towns." 



178 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



temporaneous political changes, and it is forgotten that the 
central monarchy was but the outward expression in the 
political sphere of the triumph of new economic forces. The 
towns had been acquiring wealth with considerable rapidity 
before the Crusades began, but during the Crusades they 
absorbed a large share of the riches of feudalism, as a result 
of the wiUingness of the nobles to part with their estates and 
furniture in exchange for ready money with which to pay 
the expenses of their trips to the Holy Land. The cities 
then bought charters of freedom, and finally, through their 
alliance with the king, gave the death-stroke to feudalism. 
This happened in France in the reign of Louis XL (1461- 
1483), and in England at the conclusion of the Wars of the 
Roses and the accession of Henry Tudor in 1485. 

Industrial progress in the towns was preparing the way for 
that national unity which began to be realized with the dis- 
appearance of feudal sovereignty, and attained its object 
under the Mercantile system of Cromwell, Colbert and 
Frederick the Great. As far as England was concerned, a 
national economy might have existed in the fourteenth cen- 
tury. A national Parliament arose under Edward L and 
soon accomplished national legislation that broke down local 
privileges ; but there was no real national economic devel- 
opment until the end of the fifteenth century, and until then 
industry did not need a wider organization than the town 
community.^ The growth of business enterprise and mer- 
cantile wealth conditioned the progress of the arts of produc- 
tion. But the entrepreneur, undertaker, adventurer, had 
made his appearance in English agriculture before the end 
of the fourteenth century, after the Black Plague (1348) had 
abolished serfdom and substituted money payments. The 
same spirit made its appearance in commerce. The Cru- 
sades not only transferred vast wealth from the nobility, who 

^ Ashley, op. cit., ii, 89. 



CA USES J 70 

seldom used it productively, to the burgesses of the towns, 
with whom it became capital, but stimulated commerce by 
the creation of new wants and tastes for Oriental luxuries. 
The annual visit of the Venetian fleet, laden with Oriental 
tapestries, jewels and spices, was a great event for England 
and the other nations of western Europe. These commodi- 
ties of foreign commerce were, to be sure, mainly luxuries. 
The arts of transportation at that time were adequate only 
for articles that were at once light, durable, valuable, and, 
therefore, purchasable by the few alone. But with the 
growth of commercial enterprise and wealth, trade began to 
embrace other goods, until it no longer remained true .hat 
the commodities used by the mass of the people were pro- 
duced near the spot where they were consumed.^ Already 
in the fourteenth century geographical specialization took 
place in wool ; for, after the Black Plague, England became 
more and more devoted to sheep-raising, and sent her wool 
to Flanders to be made into cloth.^ Not only did Flanders 
thus early become noted for its woollen fabrics, but Strass- 
burg and other Alsatian towns in the same period drove the 
clothmakers out of Basel and other neighboring cities by 
their competition.3 Between 1450 and 1550 the cloth manu- 
facture of Germany was concentrated in places peculiarly 
fitted for it.'^ Gradually the weekly town market, in which 
the wares sold were almost entirely local products, gave way 
to the great annual fairs, which brought together the pro- 
ducts of many cities and countries.^ 

' Cf. SchmoUer's essay, " Der moderne Verkehr iai Verhaltniss zum wirthschaf t- 
lichen, socialen und sittlichen Fortschritt " (1870), in Ziir Social- unci Gewerbe- 
politik del Gegemvai-f. 

^Gibbins, Industrial History of England, 48. 

^ SchmoUer, " Die Thatsachen der Arbeitsteilung," in his Jahrbuch, 13 : 1066. 

* Schmoller, The Mercantile System, 32. 

^ The weekly local market began to give place to the fair in Germany about 
1506 (SchmoUer's yaki-buch, 13: 1066), and the culminating point of the great 



l80 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

But as the towns thus came into closer connection, their 
rivalries led to innumerable petty conflicts which could be 
reconciled only by a superior authority. Town leagues were 
tried, and after their failure, the current set strongly toward 
nationalism.^ Mercantilism is simply the attitude of this 
movement toward foreigners ; the great Mercantilists were 
also engaged in sweeping away the internal barriers to 
nationalization. Colbert, whose name is so prominently 
identified with the mercantile policy that Colbertism has be- 
come a synonym of Mercantilism, built roads and canals, 
promoted technical and artistic education, and worked for a 
uniform customs system by reforming the river tolls, etc., 
within France, his aim all the while being to break down 
municipal and provincial autarchy and make of the French 
people a united nation.^ 

Frankfort fair was reached later in the same century (Biicher, Entstehutig der 
Volkswirthschaft, 72). Until the era of these interstate or international fairs, the 
mediaeval town, instead of importing goods from rival towns, had pursued the 
policy of importing skilled workmen, who thus became, according to Prof. Biicher, 
greater migrants than the artisans of these days of railways. (Essay on " Die in- 
neren Wanderungen und das Stadtewesen in ihrer entwicklungsgeschichtlichen 
Bedeutung," op. cii., 302, ff. Cf. also Schmoller, op. cit., xiii, 1066.) 

^ " With the transformation and enlargement of commerce, the growth of the 
spirit of union and the consciousnesss of interests common to whole districts; 
with the augmented difficulties in the way of a proper organization of economic 
life on the basis merely of town and village interests, and the increasing hopeless- 
ness of victory over the anarchy of endless petty conflicts, efforts and tendencies 
everywhere made their appearance toward some larger grouping of economic 
forces." Schmoller, The Alercanlile System, 13. 

^Cf. Smoller, op. cit., 54-5 : "The great laws of Colbert .... more important 
than the tariffs of 1664 and 1667 .... founded the legal as well as economic 
unity of France." Prof. Schmoller was one of the first investigators to seize upon 
the nation-building movement as the essence of Mercantilism; see his " Studien 
iiber die wirthschaftliche Politik Friedrichs des Grossen," in his Jahrbuch, 
1884-8. Prof. Cunningham's great work, Growth of English Induitry and 
Coi/imerce, takes a similar view of the mercantile policy, as does also that brilliant 
historical essay of the late Prof. Seeley, The Expansion of England. Cf. also 
Biicher's Entstehimg der Volkswirthschaft, 70 ff. 



CA USES 1 8 1 

The nation, however, did not remain a self-sufficing indus- 
trial society. Mercantilism fulfilled its mission as soon as it 
unified the nation and gave national production a good 
start. When once it had produced a sufficient diversification 
of industries, it was permitted to lapse, and the nation gave 
itself to the production of those commodities for which it was 
particularly suited. Protectionism, the child of Mercantil- 
ism, has had a strong influence upon the industry of the 
United States ; but no American statesmen have entertained 
the ambition of making the country absolutely self-sufficing. 
While protecting the infant manufactures of the United 
States against the competition of the established industries of 
Europe, they have kept the door wide open to the admission 
of tropical products. It may therefore be stated as a general 
truth that the whole world forms to-day a single industrial 
society. 

The effect of this gradual enlargement of the economic 
society upon the growth of cities must be clear to every 
student. How different is London, a local market for the 
agriculturists of Essex and Middlesex, from London, the 
world's financial and commercial centre ! Or take the Dutch 
as a representative commercial nation, and compare their 
cities with those of their neighbors, the Belgians. Belgium 
is a great manufacturing country, consuming more coal and 
and iron per capita than any other European country except 
Great Britain. Holland has few manufactures, but carries on 
an extensive commerce.^ It is also less densely populated 

^Of the Belgians, 57 per cent, are engaged in manufacturing industry, the per- 
centage in England being at the same date (1881) only 55 (SchmoUer, " Die 
Thatsachen der Arbeitsteilung," in his Jahrbuch, 13: 1073). But statistics of 
occupation are difficult to compare, and for the Netherlands none comparable are 
at hand. The estimated annual value of manufactures in Belgium is 102 millions 
sterhng, in Holland 35, being a rario of 3:1, while the population of the two 
countries stands at the ratio of 4 : 3. (Hobson, op. cit., 87.) On the other hand 
the Netherlands have the largest foreign trade in proportion to population of any 



1 82 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

than Belgium.^ Those who maintain that cities are the pro- 
duct of manufactures would expect to find a much larger 
urban population in Belgium than in the Netherlands. The 
actual percentages are as follows : 

Netherlands. Belgium. 

Townships of 2,000+ ca 85. ca 75. 

" 10,000-1- 43. 34.8 

" " 20,000-}- 31.3 26.1 

The disparity of the percentages in favor of Holland might 
in the case of the townships having only 2,000 inhabitants, 
be due to the larger size of the Dutchtownship, which would 
thus include more of the scattered population, not really 
urban.^ But in the case of the larger cities, the scat- 
tered population is too small to be a factor of any influ- 
ence. The plain inference from the comparison is that 
commerce is one of the main causes of the concentration of 
population in large cities. The analysis of the growth of 
English cities after the opening up of railways also confirms 
the hypothesis. It has been shown above (pp. 54-56), that 
nearly all of the cities which attained their maximum rate 
of increase in 1 841-51, the decade of railway building, were 
seaports; the manufacturing centres having reached their 
highest rate of growth at the time when steam was applied 
to stationary machinery. 

country in the world, averaging in the eighties over $200 per annum for each in- 
habitant, while the Belgian average is about ^90. (Neuman-Spallart, Uebersich- 
ten der Weltwirthschaft, 1 883-4, p. 549.) Hobson {op. cit., 116) gives a map of 
the foreign trade of European nations; Holland is in a class by itself, while 
Great Britain, Belgium and Switzerland fall in the second class. 

^ The average size of the Dutch Gemeente is 28.7 square kilometres, of the Bel- 
gian commune, 11.4 square kilometers. (P. 142.) 

Population to 
Population. Area. i sq. km. 

■^Belgium (1890) 6,069,321 29,456 sq. km. 206. 

Holland (1889) 4.511.41S 32,538 " 138.7 

— Statistik des Deutschen Heiches, Neue Folge, Bd. 68, p. 6*. 



CA USES 



183 



As has been said, the growth of commerce is an accompan- 
iment of the speciaHzation of functions, or territorial division 
of labor. Recurrence to the biological analogy will serve to 
make clear this process. 

Primitive society consists of the household group, which 
may be likened to the lowest type of organism ; each is a 
composite of like cells. The differentiation of the organism 
into an inner and outer layer is parallelled by the first differ- 
entiation of society into town and country. Finally, there 
comes the formation of special organs and a distributive sys- 
tem — in other words, the agglomeration of population in 
centres of collection and distribution, and a system of trans- 
portation. To a highly developed society such centres of mass 
and force are as necessary as are its organs to any organism of 
the higher type. Economy of force, which is always the aim 
of specialization, is impossible of attainment without concen- 
tration. In the economic organism, transportation is the 
distributive system ; differentiation is therefore impossible 
without improvements in this system. The better the trans- 
portation, the higher the specialization and the greater the 
concentration. 

The close connection between transportation facilities and 
the territorial division of labor has led some writers to regard 
transportation as the sole agent in determining the distribu- 
tiou of population, its concentration in cities and the location 
tion of cities.^ The truth doubtless is that transportation is 
one of the conditions, one of the external causes. The 
development of transportation proceeds pari passu with, the 
evolution of the social body ; as the differentiation progresses, 
transportation, like the distributive system in an organism, 
must be able to assume increased burdens. The growth of 

' " The whole matter of the distribution of population, wealth and industries 
over the face of the earth is, in one of its aspects, a matter of transportation." 
Cooley, Theory of Transportation, 73. Cf. also Ratzel, Auikro-geogrophie. 



1 84 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



commerce in the eighteenth century, due in large part to the 
growth of the American market, opened unlimited opportuni- 
ties to the English manufacturer and brought out inventions 
that revolutionized the textile industry. The new machinery 
required for its highest efficiency a more regular power than 
that afforded by mill streams, and Watt invented the steam 
engine. Production therefore increased hundred-fold, and 
laid upon the canals and turnpikes impossible tasks ; it called 
for improved means of transportation, and the railway came 
into being. As Hobson justly remarks, the history of the 
textile inventions does a good deal to dispel the " heroic" 
theory of invention — that of an idea flashing suddenly from 
the brain of a single genius and effecting a rapid revolution 
in trade. It should rather be said that inventions result from 
the inner " pressure of industrial circumstances which direct 
the intelligence of many minds towards the comprehension 
of some single central point of difficulty."^ 

IV. THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL CENTRES. 

[Authorities. On the evolution of industry, Biicher is again the foremost authority, and no 
serious student of economics can afford to neglect his essay on " Die gewerblichen Betriebssysteme 
in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung" (in Enstehung der Volkswirthschaft, Tubingen, 1893), 
and the article " Gewerbe," in Conrad's H a>idwdrterbuch . Cf., also Held, Zwei Bucher zur 
sozialen Geschichte Englands, 541 and Erster Anhang (entitled "Handwerk und Grossindustrie), 
and SchmoUer's Klehigewerbe; while the Domestic System is portrayed in Report from the {H. 
C.) Co7nniittee on the Woollen Manufacture of England, 1806, pp. 3, 6, 8, 9, 10. The evolu- 
tion of industries and towns in the United States may be studied in Weeden's Economic and 
Social History of New Etigland, 2 vols., Boston and New York, 1891, esp., pp. 73, 271, 304, 
305. (The development of Lynn as a typical iactory town may be followed on pp. 308, 682, 735, 
etc.) The Factory System and Centralized Industry, or production on a large scale, are treated 
in the standard works on political economy; see especially. Mill, Pri7tciples of Politieal Econ- 
iJ^^y, Bk. I., chs. 8, 9; MarshaW, Principles of Economics ; WaW^x's Political Economy ; Had- 
ley's Economics ; the two American writers giving particular prominence to the undertaker or 
entrepreneur. The historical side is treated by Carroll D. Wright in his essay on the Factory 
System in Rep. on the Mfs. of the U. S. at the Tenth Census, and also in his little book en- 
titled The Industrial Evolution of the United States; lucwasscnr, VOuvj'ier Americain, 2 
vols., Paris, 1898; Stieda, Art. " Fabrik" in Conrad's Handworterbuch ; Marx, Capital ; Hob- 
son, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism ; Schulze-Gavernitz, Grossbetrieb or The Cotton 
Trade; V^eS^s, Recent Economic Changes; Atkinson, The Distribution of Products ; Schon- 
hof, The Economy of High Wages, and The Indjtstrial Sitjtation : Mataja, Grossmagazin 
und Kleinhandel; SchmoUer, " Wesen und Verfassung der grossen Unterjiehmungen" in Zur 

'^Evolution of Capitalism, 57. Cf. Spencer, Social Statics (1893), p. 72; 
Schulze-Gavernitz, Social Peace, 15, 



CAUSES 



185 



Social- und Gewerbepolitik der Gegenwart ; also " Die Entwicklung des Grossbetriebs und die 
sociale Klassenbildung," in Pretissiscke Jahrbiicher, LXIX, (1892), Heft 4; Sinzheimer, Die 
Grenzen der Weiterbilditng des fabrikmcissigen Grossbetriebs, a monograph in Brentano's 
Munchener Volkswirthschaftliche Studien ; an interesting popular exposition of the manage- 
ment of large industries was given in a series of articles on " The Conduct of Great Businesses," 
in Scribner's Magazine, 1897. 

The most luminous treatment of the principle of the division of labor is Biicher's "Arbeitsteilung 
und sociale Klassenbildung," one of the essays appearing in Die E7itstehung der Volkswirth- 
schaft : Prof. SchmoUer has also made noteworthy contributions to the subject, the most import- 
ant being two articles in his journal, ( Jahrbuchfilr Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung -und Volkswirih- 
schaft, vols. XIII and XIV), entitled respectively " Die Thatsachen der Arbeitsteilung," and 
" Das Wesen der Arbeitsteilung;" see also Hackel, Arbeitsteilung in Menschen und Thier- 
leben ; Spencer, Princij>les of Sociology, es^. Part VIII, ch. II; Bagehot, Physics and Politics; 
Schaffle, Bau und Leberi des Socialen Korpers, as well as his text-book of political economy. 
Das gesellschaftliche System der menschlichen Wirthschaft ; Simmel, Ueber sociale Differ- 
encirung ; Durkheim, Xa Division du Travail ; T^osch, JVationale Production und ftatiofiale 
Bent/sgliedernng ; and the leading text-books — Mill, Walker, etc.] 

In the foregoing section it was shown how economic devel- 
opment, or the integration of isolated social and economic 
groups, demands the concentration of a portion of the popu- 
lation in commercial cities. Similarly, it may be shown how 
the enlargement of the market, which is one aspect of the 
process of growth of industrial society from the village econ- 
omy to the world economy, has brought about centralization 
in the manufacturing industries and enforced the concentra- 
tion of another portion of the population in industrial, or 
perchance commercial, cities. A brief review of industrial 
evolution will suffice to show the importance of the size of 
the market with regard to the business organization or inter- 
nal structure of industry. 

In the evolution of industry, four principal stages may be 
clearly distinguished : ( i ) the household or family system, 
(2) the guild or handicraft system, (3) the domestic or cot- 
tage system, (4) the factory system or centralized industry. 

Under the household regime, each family manufactures its 
own supplies, and there is no buying and selling. The village 
community and manorial group are but enlarged families, 
and we have already pointed out their industrial autonomy. 
The advent of the trader and the introduction of money 
caused the disintegration of the village by dififerentiating its 



1 86 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

members. The family shoemaker, instead of helping on the 
farm and making shoes for the other members of the family 
at odd moments, began to travel about working for other 
families like the itinerant village dressmaker still to be met 
with in many parts of the country. At length he would have 
accumulated sufficient capital to buy his own materials, and 
would then set up a shop and make shoes to order. In 
locating his shop he would naturally choose the most cen- 
tral site, and would therefore in all likelihood become a 
neighbor of the trader in the town or a large village. Thus 
the handicraft system of industry and the town economy are 
different aspects of one stage of economic evolution. Both 
lasted to about the middle of the fifteenth century. 

In the course of time the primitive shoemaker's business 
would have increased so much by reason of the growth of 
population and the extension of the market, that he would 
feel himself impelled to employ assistants or apprentices. 
But before enlarging the capacity of his own shop, which 
would probably require considerably more capital than he 
could command in those early times, he would be more 
likely to place orders with some of his fellow-craftsmen who 
lacked his business talent and enterprise in attracting custo- 
mers or in accumulating capital. This new division of labor, 
involving the differentiation of employing or wage-earning 
classes (the capitalists, undertakers, business men on the 
one hand, and the laborers or " hands" on the other), is the 
beginning of modern Capitalism. Logically, it is only a short 
step hence to the factory system, wherein the employer 
brings together the workers under one roof. But it required 
immense improvements in means of communication to 
replace the local market, in which the handicraftsmen made 
the vast majority of things to order, with a wider market 
wherein the master (eventually the capitalist) sold his ready- 
made products to whatever buyers appeared. Historically 



CA USES 



187 



it required nearly three centuries to make a modern capital- 
istic employer out of the mediaeval master handicraftsman 
employing one or two journeymen and apprentices. The 
first middleman in manufactures was the mediaeval clothier, 
who owned no buildings, but bought the raw materials, dis- 
tributed them among the weavers, and sold the cloth in the 
market. 

The factory system was made possible by the gradual 
enlargement of the market;^ its triumph was assured by the 
invention of power-machinery in the eighteenth century and 
the development of the modern systems of transportation 
and communication in the nineteenth century. The coun- 
tries most energetic in introducing the new improvements in 
means of communication are the countries that have carried 
the factory system to its highest development. The tendency 
toward production on a large scale is too familiar a fact 
to the American to demand statistical proof ; it is sufficiently 
illustrated in the statement that the average number of em- 
ployees to an establishment in the textile industries has 
increased as follows:^ 

1850 48 

i860 64 

1870 58 

1880 95 

1890 124 

In the surrender of the small producer to the corporation 
and trust lies, of course, the explanation of the decay of vil- 
lage or local industries carried on under the antiquated 

^ " Communication is the outer vehicle, commerce the inner soul which gave 
the impetus to centralized industry." Schmoller, in Prtussische yahrbucher, voU 
Ixix, pt. 4. 

'^ nth Cen., AJfs., Part III, p. 3. Cf. ibid., Part I, p. 4. While in 1850 the 
average amount of capital to each manufacturing establishment reported was 
^4,300; in i860 it was $7,100; in 1880,^x1,000; in 1890,^19,000. The aver- 
age number of employees rose from 8 in 1S50 to 14 in 1890. 



1 88 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

handicraft regime. The story of the decHne of the villages 
in the United States has been told by Mr. H. F. Fletcher in 
an article entitled " The Doom of the Small Town," and pub- 
lished in the Forum, April, 1895. The number of village 
saw-mills, flour and grist-mills, establishments devoted to 
furniture and cabinet-making, and the manufacture of agri- 
cultural implements, brick and tile, etc., has perceptibly 
declined. Mr. Fletcher also investigated the statistics of 
population of the villages along the Chicago, Rock Island 
and Pacific and the Michigan Central railways from Des 
Moines to Detroit, a line of 500 miles, running through a 
flourishing agricultural region. The only villages along 
these two lines of railway that showed a gain of population at 
the last census were those immediately adjacent to Chicago ; 
all the other small communities have steadily lost population. 
Mr. Fletcher attributes the decline to discriminating railway 
rates, favoring the great cities ; but the more general cause 
is the substitution of production on a large scale for local 
industries. 

The transformation of industry in Germany has been going 
on at a very rapid rate in the last decade, and the industrial 
census of 1895 showed that the old Handwerker, or master 
artisans, are disappearing before the advance of the factory 
system, thus : 

Percentage increase or 
decrease, 1882-1895.* 
Persons working on their own account — 5.3 

" " in establishments of 5 or fewer workmen. +23.0 

« 6-50 " . 4-76.3 

" " " " " more than 50 " . +88.7 

Similar statistics may be given of village industries in 
England.^ Thus, in the agricultural county of Huntingdon 

^Cf. summary yahrbilcher fiir N.-O. tend Statistik, Ixx, 665. The question is 
discussed by Sinzheimer, op. cit. 

'^ Ogle, "The Alleged Depopulation of the Rural Districts," in Jour, of Stat. 
Soc, Hi. (1889), pp. 219, 226, 228, 230. The subject is treated at some length 
by Graham, The Rural Exodus, chapter iv. 



CA USES 



189 



the number of handicraftsmen, tradesmen and other classes 
was as follows : 

1851. 1861. 1871. 1881. 

Building trades Iji40 1,050 1,092 997 

Milliners and seamstresses 741 889 815 830 

Lace makers 1,022 708 678 389 

Shoemakers 700 669 499 364 

Paper- makers 1 60 230 264 305 

Total of II trades 4,932 4,6n 4,307 3,704 

Shopkeepers 1,338 1,370 1,513 1,444 

Drink trade 319 324 415 268 

Professional classes, teachers ... . 332 369 408 421 

do clerical, medical, etc. 246 255 243 234 

Personal services 2,308 3,165 3,638 3,293 

Agriculture 12,256 12,173 11,819 10,161 

In England the decline of agriculture is a cause of the 
decay of villages which can scarcely be said to exist in the 
case of the Western villages embraced in Mr. Fletcher's 
investigation. But agricultural depression evidently cannot 
account for the remarkable decrease in the number of shoe- 
makers and lacemakers, the cause of which is indisputably 
the centralization of industry. 

The foregoing figures of Dr. Ogle's suggest other conse- 
quences of the modern transformation. Thus the decreasing 
number of persons engaged in the drink trade results from 
the decline of travel on the highways since the era of rail- 
ways.^ The professional classes, omitting teachers, are de- 
clining in number as a natural result of the modern ten- 
dency toward specialization, and the ability of the rich cities 
to attract to themselves the leading specialists. The village 
doctor cannot compete against the specialists and hospitals 
— both city institutions. The small decrease in the number 
of shopkeepers is worthy of comment. The storekeeper 

' But the bicycle era, upon which we have already entered, promises to re- 
habilitate the country inn. 



igQ THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

would naturally be among the last of the villagers to feel the 
competition of centralized industry. At first, indeed, the 
railway benefited the village tradesman, for it enabled him 
to supply his customers with the most approved goods from 
the centres of fashion. Thus the village storekeeper pros- 
pered long after the downfall of the village manufacturer ; but 
in these later days he is fast succumbing to city competition. 
The mail order system perfected by the city department 
stores has drawn much of the village trade to the city, and 
the cheapening of both passenger fares and express rates 
enables ever-increasing numbers of villagers to do their shop- 
ping in the city and have their purchases delivered free. 

The department store, or Universal Provider, now found 
in every large American city, affords one of the best illustra- 
tions of the development of centralized industry, although it 
belongs properly to the topic of commerce. The evolution 
of retail trade maybe presented in three stages: (i) A 
single store meets the demands of the entire community ; its 
stock consists of nearly everything wanted, from a needle to 
an anchor. This is the old-time " village store" which still 
exists in small communities. But its inefficient organization 
prevents it from keeping pace with the growing demands of 
a rising community, and so (2) specialized or exclusive stores 
spring up, each of which in its own line outdoes the general 
store. But after a time the growth of capital and of business 
ability, and the expansion of the market, enable some saga- 
cious man to unite several of the specialized businesses under 
one roof and management in (3) the department store, which 
is like the village general store in outward form, but very 
different in internal organization,' for it adheres to the spe- 
ciahzation developed in the second stage. Its large capital 
enables it to offer greater variety in each line of goods than 
the village store and lower prices than the specialized store. 

1 Each department has its own head. 



CAUSES ipi 

Manufacturing industry has not yet reached the third stage, 
represented in retail trade by the department store. The 
tendency has been toward greater speciaHzation of the pro- 
cesses ; in the woolen industry, for example, the highest 
development (Bradford, England) has resulted in separate 
establishments for scouring, carding and combing, spinning, 
weavmg, dyeing and finishing, packing. Some experts re- 
gard this as the final development.^ But there is already 
one establishment in Germany (Krupp's gun works) which 
not only carries on all the purely manufacturing processes, 
but also works up its own materials. In the United States 
the tendency seems to be to distinctly toward the consolida- 
tion of the various processes ; thus the great steel " barons" 
are acquiring control of iron mines and transportation lines, 
and the Standard Oil Company, which began as refiners, have 
become carriers and are now buying up the control of the 
crude oil product.^ Similarly, there exists a tendency toward 
the consolidation of allied manufactures, the successful bicy- 
cle maker applying his capital and business methods to the 
production of a general line of sporting goods, and finding 
his market already secured by the advertising he gave to 
his original product. The advantage of conducting manufac- 
turing on such a " department store" plan lies, of course, in 
the greater steadiness of the business. Competition in any 
one line can be met by a reduction of prices there, to be 
made up by the profits on other lines, and at a time of de- 
pression in one trade the idle workmen may be set to work 
in other departments. 

The effect of centralized industry — production for the 
world market — upon the distribution of population has 
already been noticed, but it is an interesting question to con- 

' Col. North in iilh Qn., Mfs.. Part iii, i8. 

* It is related that one of the great New York hotels grows its own celery and 
raises its own poultry on Pennsylvania farms. 



192 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



sider future prospects. No one can expect that future de- 
velopment will be in the direction of production on a small 
scale and for the local market. But while the unit of capital 
will in all probability increase as time goes on, may it not be 
dispersed in several small establishments, rather than concen- 
trated in a single large establishment? One of the most 
characteristic achievements of the modern corporation is the 
conduct of such a business as that of a London bread com- 
pany with large capital, almost entire control of the market, 
and a highly centralized management, but with branch stores 
scattered all over the great city. Something of the same 
phenomenon is to be observed in the United States, where 
manufacturing establishments scattered from east to west and 
north to south, unite in syndicates and trusts with large cap- 
ital and central control. Why may not this process of cen- 
tralization and decentralization go on indefinitely and even 
extend itself to separate establishments as soon as the per- 
fection of small electric motors permits the diffusion of 
motive power in small shops and the homes of workingmen ? 
In other words, what is to prevent a return to the cottage 
system, or domestic industries, with the discovery of cheap 
methods of distributing water power, as foreshadowed already 
by the harnessing of Niagara Falls? 

In the first place, it is to be observed that factories came 
into existence long before the age of steam. Even England, 
whose writers are prone to assume the origin of the factory 
system in the inventions of Watt and Arkwright, possessed 
large enterprises in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells of 
" the famous and worthy clothier of England, Jack of New- 
bury," or John Winchcombe, who kept a hundred looms at 
work in his own house, and marched to Flodden Field at the 
head of one hundred of his journeymen.^ The " Weavers' 
Act" of 1555 suggests a movement toward factories, and the 

^ Cf. Ashley, ii, 229. 



CAUSES 



193 



tendency reappeared in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- 
ries before the introduction of power-machinery. The large 
manufacturer had the advantage of a greater division of labor 
and greater rapidity of production. We need not, therefore, 
be surprised at Professor Ashley's concluding " it is certain 
that in the sixteenth century it was not at all impossible that 
the large manufactory might become an important — if not 
dominant — feature in the woollen trade of England. The 
prevention of such a development was due primarily to legis- 
lative action."' On the continent of Europe there was a 
more considerable development of factory methods antece- 
dent to the invention of the steam engine.^ 

The chief reason why the mediaeval clothier concentrated 
his workers in a factory instead of allowing them to continue 
working at home was economic in its character and accorded 
with a fundamental tendency of evolution ; it was the division 
and combination of labor. That this was the main advan- 
tage of concentration will appear upon summarizing the ad- 
vantages of production on a large scale, giving rise to the 

^ That is, by limiting the number of journeymen that a master might employ 
and the numerous guild restrictions. 

■^ In the second half of the sixteenth century, a great Basel merchant, Ryff, 
visited Geneva, and was astonished to see " gigantic six-story houses " in which 
spinning was done on a colossal scale (Stieda, art. " Fabrik " in Conrad's 
HandworterbucJi) . He found similar enterprises in Venice engaged in making 
sail-cloth. In France mention is made of a woollen mill at Abbeville, opened in 
1669 with 500 Dutch workmen. And so it was in other countries. The most 
convincing proof that steam favors the factory system only because it promotes 
the division of labor, is found in the existence of centralized industry in the 
ancient cities. Alexandria was the great industrial city of the Roman world, and 
" here we meet centralized-industry magnates of the most modern pattern like 
Firma, who, in the reign of Aurelian, even stretched out his hand toward the 
crown, a baron of industry who made such profits from his paper mills alone that 
he boasted of his ability to maintain an army on- papyrus." (Pohlmann, Die 
Uebervolkerung der antiken Grossstddte, p. 31. For the factory system in Rome, 
see Bliimner, Die geiverbliche Thdtigkeit der Volker des classischen Aiterthums, 
H2ff._) 



194 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



law of increasing returns in manufactures : ( i ) Economy in 
motive power and in the erection and maintenance of the 
plant. One large mill costs much less than two small ones. 
(2) Economy in machinery. Modern industry is essentially 
machine production, and machinery is constantly becoming 
more complicated and expensive. Improvements and new 
inventions are so frequent that only the concerns with large 
capital can keep abreast of the times and survive fierce com- 
petition. (3) Saving in wages, by securing the most exten- 
sive division of labor,^ and employing the most highly spe- 
cialized ability. It is only the ** big concern" that can afford 
to employ a superintendent of the highest ability ; a small 
establishment would not have work enough to engage his 
utmost energy and talent. So, too, only the large establish- 
ment can maintain its own staff of inventors and experts to 
experiment and investigate suggestions. (4) Economy in 
the utilization of by-products, which become profitable to 
handle only in large quantities. The four advantages already 
mentioned may be regarded as belonging to production 
proper ; a fifth class of economies belongs to the commer- 

* A great deal has been added to the theory of the division of labor since Adam 
Smith's first attempt, which was very inadequate. Smith suggested three advan- 
tages : (a) Increased dexterity, because " practice makes perfect." (b) Close at- 
tention to a single process encourages the invention of machinery to take over 
automatic operations, (c) Saving of time in going from one operation to an- 
other — of very minor importance, since the time lost by the all-round artisan is 
fully compensated by the stimulus of variety and change, (d) The most import- 
ant advantage of all was overlooked by Smith — the gradation of labor. The sep- 
aration of a process into its simplest elements permits the use of cheap labor for 
the heavy, mechanical work, and the concentration of the skilled and expensive 
labor exclusively upon the finer tasks. In the French silk industry of the middle 
ages each artisan understood every one of the 100 operations in his trade. 
(SchmoUer, "Die Thatsachen der Arbeitsteilung," in his Jahrbuch, 13: 1047.) 
To-day such an all-round education is worse than useless, because many of the 
operations can be performed by the ordinary street gamin with the shortest pos- 
sible training, (e) Saving in capital, because the several workmen no longer re- 
quire full outfits. 



CAUSES IQ5 

cial side of the business, and consists of (5) special facilities 
for buying, selling, shipping and advertising. The enter- 
prise backed by large capital can buy its raw materials in 
the cheapest market and at the most favorable time, and 
store them until needed ; it can also hold its finished product 
until the most favorable opportunity for sale arrives. It se- 
cures discounts by buying in large quantities, and low freight 
rates by shipping in large quantities. It can maintain its 
own "drummers," or commercial travellers, and in other 
ways advertise on a large scale.' In short, the motto, 
" Large sales and small profits" explains why the " big con- 
cern" is the fittest to survive in the economic world. 

Of all these advantages of the "big concern," the most 
important without doubt are those of the fifth class, which 
are conected simply with large aggregations of capital. But 
next to those in importance are the economies connected 
with machinery and the division of labor. Machinery on 
the whole tends to become more complicated, uniting more 
operations and requiring the co-operation of more laborers 
in tending each machine. Its rapid evolution has almost 
always and everywhere favored the growth of the large estab- 
lisment. Similarly, the efficient division of labor makes for 
centralization, on account of saving in wages of superintend- 
ence. As Marx says, " Laborers as a general rule cannot 
co-operate without being brought together." 

An additional influence favoring the substitution of the 
factory system for cottage industries in those trades like that 
of ready-made clothing, where the division of labor is not 
particularly advantageous, is the necessity of public inspec- 
tion of industries. From purely selfish motives, society can- 
not afford to permit the sale of garments made in rooms 

' A New York department store finds it profitable to expend ^300,000 a year for 
advertising. The immense expenditures of bicycle-makers and manufacturers of 
proprietary articles for the same purpose are well-known facts. 



igQ THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

poisoned with disease, and it has all but decided to abolish 
the " sweat-shop" on account of the difficulty of supervision. 
While, then, cottage industries have revived fn some parts 
of the world (notably in Ireland) we must not be sanguine 
of any general revival, even should transmission of power 
become an established fact. Motive power is but one factor 
in the triumph of the factory system, as history shows, and 
those who look for fundamental changes in the structure of 
industry, as soon as electric motors shall have superseded 
steam engines, are doomed to disappointment.^ We may be 
sure that the factory system has come to stay. But how 
does it affect the distribution of population ? First, by de- 
stroying family industry prosecuted in the farm houses, it 
diminishes the number of agriculturists, as pointed out in 
Section II ; secondly, by destroying industries in the handi- 
craft stage (village shoemaking, milling, etc.), it removes 
population from the villages. The entire effect on the dis- 
tribution of population is therefore centralizing. But it re- 
mains a question whether it favors the growth of large cities, 
as commerce does, or of small cities and towns. It is a ques- 
tion of the advantageous location of the large factory. If local 
facilities for transportation preponderate among the natural 
advantages, then the factory will go to the great city ; while, 
if local facilities for production determine the site, the factory 
is likely to go to the small city. Let us consider the prob- 
lem.'' 

^The German professors, in their anxiety to disprove Marx's thesis regarding 
the concentration of capital, are unduly hopeful of such changes as those men- 
tioned above. The v^riter recalls the statement of a Berlin professor, lecturing on 
Unternehmungsformen, that the baker's trade among others could never be cen- 
tralized, since the area that could be served by one shop is so small. The possi- 
bilities of telephone and delivery service escaped him, but even on his assumption 
that each block must have its own bakery, there is nothing to prevent all these 
small shops from becoming branches in a large concern, as is actually the case in 
London. 

^ In addition to the literature given in the preceding section, the following ar- 



CA USES 



197 



In the first place, it may be observed that where the divi- 
sion of labor is undeveloped, industry is carried on in prox- 
imity to consumers, and with reference to the advantages of 
consumption alone. Such is the case in the household 
economy, and for the most part in the town economy. Nat- 
ural advantages for production are ignored, and it is in fact 
the very purpose of utilizing these that gives rise to the 
division of labor. This leads to the improvement of ways of 
communication, which in time alters the conditions of pro- 
duction. With regard to agriculture, mining, and the cruder 
manufactures, such improvement emphasized and intensified 
every natural advantage possessed by one locality over an- 
other; without easy transportation the fertile land of North 
Dakota would not compete with the rocky soil of Massachu- 
setts in raising food for the industrial population of the 
eastern commonwealths. It is cheap transportation that has 
transferred the Irish and German peasants to the western 
plains of America, and that, by making profitable the work- 
ing of iron mines lying at a distance from coal fields, has 
scattered the Cornish miners all over the world. By making 
available every natural advantage, transportation disperses 
the agricultural and mining population. 

But what is true of agriculture and mining does not neces- 
sarily hold of manufacturing, which is far less dependent upon 
special qualities of the soil. In manufacturing, the raw 
material that comes from the soil is but a single factor in pro- 
duction ; other factors are capital, labor, rent, taxes, market 
for the sale, and facilities for the shipment, of the manufac- 
tured products. Now the effect of improved transportation 

tides may be referred to : Ross, " Location of Industries," in Quarterly Journal 
of Economics, vol. x, (1895-96); E. Laspeyres, "Standort der Gewerbe," (in the 
United States), Berlin Vierteljahrschrift fu rVolkstuirthschaft, 1870, Nos. II and 
III, 1871, p. I; Roscher, "Studien liber die Naturgesetze die den zweckmassig- 
sten Standort der Industriezweige bestimmen," in Ansichten der Volkswirthschaft, 
3d ed., vol. U. 



198 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

is to cheapen the raw materials, and as a consequence 
diminish their relative importance as a factor of production. 
The very fact therefore that railways have so cheapened 
transportation as to permit the shipment of bulky and heavy 
commodities (/. e., raw materials) has diminished the impor- 
tance of local natural advantages and increased the impor- 
tance of the non-natural or artificial advantages for produc- 
tion. The crude manufactures {e.g., lumber mills, tanneries) 
are still located near the source of supply of raw materials,, 
but not the finer manufactures, and the question arises. Is 
their location determined by other conditions of production^ 
or by the conditions of consumption, /. e., facilities for mar- 
keting, and cheap shipment to consumers? If nearness to 
consumers is the most important advantage in a manufactur- 
ing site, then it might be expected that the great commercial 
centres would also be the manufacturing centres, for they not 
only contain a rich and numerous body of consumers, but 
apparently afford superior facilities for distributing goods to 
the remaining consuming population. The tendency in man- 
ufacturing would then be toward centralization, and the great 
cities would grow at an enormous rate.' Such, indeed, has 

' This is the argument and conclusion of Dr. Cooley in his authoritative work on 
The Theory of Transportation. He says (p. 88) : "Natural facilities for trans- 
portation in many, if not most cases, determine the seats of manufacturing indus- 
tries and of the population associated. Convenience of transportation becomes 
itself, in all advanced conditions of industry, the most important of local facilities 
for production; only cruder processes (sawing lumber, smelting ore, etc."), need 
take place near the source of raw material. Those of a finer sort, in which the 
cost of moving the raw materials is relatively less important, tend to seek the large 
centres of the collection, distribution and exchange of products. The vicinity of 
cities, wherever they may be located, will always be the chief seat of the finer 
manufactures, on account of the convenience that cities offer for selling and ship- 
ping goods." 

The important influence that transportation facilities have upon the location of 
industries appears from the following facts, which also illustrate the intricacies of 
railway tariffs. It is said on good authority that the principal reason that potter- 
ies thrive in Staffordshire is because the Liverpool ships, carrying iron from the 



CAUSES igg 

been the actual tendency. In former times, the manufacturer 
located his plant chiefly with regard to two advantages, water 
power and nearness to raw materials. Steam applied to sta- 
tionary engines has made him independent of water power ; 
applied to engines of locomotion it has made him all but in- 
dependent of the source of his raw materials. Cheap trans- 
portation may put the great city on a level with the small 
town adjacent to the raw materials, i. e., one tendency of 
modern improvements is to make the commercial centre also 
a manufacturing centre. 

The centralizing influence of railways is particularly strong 
in countries where competition has had full sway ; the com- 
petitive points, enjoying lower rates than rival towns on a 
single line, absorb all the growth of a region. This fact has 
been a matter of every-day observation in many parts of the 
United States, and it is confirmed by all railway authorities.^ 
It is asserted that " the entire net increase of the population 
from 1870 to 1890 in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minne- 
sota, except in the new sections, was in cities and towns pos- 
sessing competitive rates, while those having non-competi- 
tive rates decreased in population;"" and in Iowa it is the 

adjacent counties, want some bulky but light goods to fill up the cargoes. Pitts- 
burg in times past received a low rate on rough goods from Cleveland because they 
could be transported in the empty cars that had taken coal to Cleveland. A slight 
decrease in the railway rates on wheat, or increase on flour, from the West to the 
East, would probably transfer the milling industry from Mmneapolis to eastern 
cities. 

^ See the Second Annual Report of the Interstate Conwierce Commission, p. 30; 
also the Aintk Annual Report, p. 16 : " The effect of these disproportionate charges 
aids the building up of large cities and the concentration of great numbers of peo- 
ple at a few central places." The Massachusetts Board of Railway Commissioners 
reported (1884) that the short-haul law " has helped to save small industries and 
small places from being crushed out of existence; it has checked the tendency 
toward consolidation which would build up one place or a few places at the cost 
of local enterprise." (Quoted in Pol. Sc. Quar., v, 426.) 

' Stickney, The Railway Problem, 62. 



200 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

general belief that the absence of large cities is due to the 
earlier policy of the railways in giving Chicago discriminat- 
ing rates/ 

If in the United States excessive competition among the 
railways has concentrated population in a few competitive 
points, the absence of competition in France has produced a 
similar effect. The French government supervised the con- 
struction of railways very closely and never permitted the 
waste involved in building more than one line between the 
same two points ; each road therefore had a monopoly in its 
own district, and as it could earn a higher rate of profit on 
through business than on the local traffic, it neglected the 
latter.'' Local branches remained unbuilt until subsidies were 
forthcoming from the central government and local authori- 
ties (1865). Ten years later an attempt was made to divert 
the local roads from their true purpose, and by building con- 
necting links bring them into competition with the old roads 
for the through traffic; general insolvency of the local roads 
resulted, which was followed by a new monopoly. The state's 
guarantee of dividends (1883) undoubtedly prevents the 
French railways from building many new lines to develop 
new business ; but in America this has been overdone, and 
it is probable that the smaller places are better served in 
France than they are in the United States — at least in the 
West. 

In Germany, too, there was a tendency for manufactures 
to settle in the cities upon the opening up of railway commu- 
nication. A careful statistical study of the effect of railways 
upon the growth of places of different size was made several 
years ago by Dr. Schwabe, of the Berlin Statistical Bureau. 
He calculated the rates of growth of 125 cities for a certain 

'Dixon, State Railroad Control, pp. 204, 151. 
* Hadley, Railroad Transportation, 192-9, 



CAUSES 20 1 

period (ranging from six to twenty-one years) before and 
after the formation of railway connections.^ The result was 
as follows: (A) Of 80 cities having less than 10,000 inhabi- 
tants each, the increase in population was greater in 23 and 
less in 57 after the opening of the railway. (B) Of 37 cities 
with populations 10,000-50,000, 18 showed an increased 
rate of growth, 19 a decreased rate. (C) Of 8 cities of 
more than 50,000 inhabitants, all but one (Cologne) grew 
more rapidly after the introduction of railways than before. 
It thus appears that the railways stopped the increase of 
population in the smaller cities, except those of an industrial 
character, and hastened the growth of the large cities. The 
railways concentrate transportation in a few channels, and 
the termini get the benefit. Investigations similar to those 
of Dr. Schwabe have since been undertaken by the impe- 
rial German statistical office, and while the conclusions are 
less positive they tend to confirm his results regarding large 
cities.^ 

The statistics of manufactures furnished by the United 
States government are not altogether trustworthy, but they at 
least show that in the period 1860-90 the movement was a 
centralizing one, toward the larger cities. In i860 the annual 
production. of manufactures per capita was $60 for the United 
States as a whole, $193.50 for ten cities having a population 
of 50,000 or more, $424 for ten cities under 50,000, and $44 
for the rural districts.3 Thus the per capita production was 

^ "Statistik des preussischen Stadtevvesens," in (Hildebrand's) yahrbvcher fiif 
Naiionalokonomie und Staiislik, vii, (l866), pp. I— 32. 

'•' " The railways do not hasten the growth of the smaller cities; their absence does 
not hinder the development of small places in comparison with those of the same 
size that are provided with railway connections." October Heft of Monatshefte 
zur Statistik des Deutschen Reiches fiir das Jahr 1878, or Statistik des Deutschen 
Reichesy xxx, Theil II, p. 14. A second study appeared in the Monatshefte of 
1884, (Mai) V, 9. 

' E. Laspeyres, " Die Gruppirung der Industrie innerhalb der Nordamerikan- 
ischen Union," in Vierteljahrsch-ift fiir Volksiuirthschaft und Kultu7-geschichte, 
xxxiv, 17. 



202 'i^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

at that time largest in the smaller cities. In 1890, however, 
the per capita product of manufactures was $455 in the 28 
great cities, $355 in the 137 cities of 20,000-100,000 popu- 
lation, and $58 for the remainder of the country.^ The supe- 
riority of the smaller cities in 1 860 had in 1 890 given way to 
that of the great cities. 

But it is probably safe to afifirm that the centralization of 
manufacturing industry has reached its Hmit. A reaction 
toward decentralization began when manufacturers located 
their mills in the suburbs of large cities in order to escape 
the high city rents and still avail themselves of the city's 
superior shipping facilities. Suburban enterprises have in 
the last decade become increasingly familiar phenomena, not 
only in the United States, but also in England and Germany, 
and have brought hope to social philanthropists disheartened 
with the poverty and misery of congested cities. The statis- 
tics of manufactures do not portray the tendency, because it 
is comparatively recent ; but the Twelfth Census, to be taken 
next year, will show how rapidly manufacturing industries are 
leaving the larger cities. To give one example : the writer 
was informed by William A. Perrine, of the Ironmoulders' 
Conference Board of New York, that of some 65 iron foun- 
dries in New York City fourteen years ago, only fifteen now 
remain. Some have gone out of existence ; but most of the 
remaining establishments have removed to Brooklyn, or sub- 
urban towns on the Hudson or in New Jersey. 

In recent years the decentralizing movement has taken a 
still more favorable turn, largely as a result of continued im- 
provements in transportation methods and a more enlight- 

1 Computations based on the returns of the iilh Census, The statistics refer to 
gross values, and present some incongruities when individual cities are compared. 
When, for example, the raw materials constitute so large a proportion of the gross 
value of the product as do the cattle and hogs of the Kansas City and Chicago 
stockyards, a small establishment will be credited with a large gross product. But 
such differences vanish in general averages of a whole class of cities. 



CA USES 

ened policy on the part of railway managers, who i. 
learned that the factor of distance is of minor importance i 
the expense account as compared with the additions to the 
revenue that result from a judicious encouragement of 
industries in small cities along their lines. To-day, practi- 
cally every shipping point in New England enjoys precisely 
the same freight rates to points south and west of New York 
city as does the metropolis itself.^ This is in effect the zone 
tarifif system, which has been fully developed in Hungary; it 
gives one and the same rate to all points within each zone. 
Many influences favor the adoption of a single, uniform rate, 
as in the postal system, for territories of moderate extent. A 
uniform rate for the whole United States is of course imprac- 
ticable ; so large a country would have to be divided into 
zones. But in a country like Belgium the distances are so 
short that a single rate seems feasible. Students of railway 
tariffs are familiar with the financial basis of the cheap " long- 
haul" rate. The English railways, for example, have found 
it profitable to carry fish to London as cheaply from Scot 
land as from English ports halfway to Scotland ; it is busi- 
ness that more than covers the actual cost of movement, thus 
contributing something to the permanent, fixed charges, and 
at the same time it is business that could be secured in no 
other way. The railways entering New York have carried 

'Although the writer has not the tariffs of the English railways at hand, it is 
evident that they are pursuing somewhat of the same policy as the American 
roads, from the fact that decentralization has set in among the cotton factories of 
Lancashire. The new factories are established neither in the great city nor in its 
suburbs, but in small localities outside. Both Manchester and its environs are 
being abandoned as manufacturing seats. (Schulze-Gavernitz, The Cotton Trade, 
74.) Professor Marshall notes that although " Manchester, Leeds, Lyons are 
still the chief centres of the trade in cotton, woollen and silk stuffs, they do not 
produce any great part of the goods to which they owe their chief fame." (^Op. cit., 
354.) The decentralizing movement is also in progress in German manufactures; 
cf. Jannasch, FAiropdische Bautti-wollindnstrie, 11, 12, " Auswanderung der In- 
dustrie nach dem flache Lande." 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

ji to the metropolis at a single rate from all points within 
radius of lOO miles at first, and now nearly 400 miles. 
George R. Blanchard, of the Joint Traffic Association, testi- 
fied before the Interstate Commerce Commission that the 
single rate could profitably be extended to distances up to 
1,000 miles, and the counsel of the Delaware, Lackawanna 
and Western railway favored the extension to any distance 
within which it is possible to transport milk without injury. 
Distances, except they be transcontinental, are in fact losing 
much of their importance for the modern railway, inasmuch 
as the cost of service in no wise corresponds to the length of 
haul. The following diagram, taken from the work of a 
practical railway manager,^ will show how slight a factor is 
distance in the rates between New York and Chicago : 

Rates on sugar, per cwt., in car-load lots. 
Distance in 
From New York to miles. Cents. Graphic comparison. 

Harrisburg, Pa 200 1 5 

Altoona, Pa 326 15 

Pittsburg 444 15 

Bucyrus, Ohio 640 21 * 

Hamlet, Ind 840 25 

Chicago 942 25 

The effect of a single, uniform railway rate, if it is ever 
realized (and we have seen that it is, to a certain extent, 
already a reality for New England manufacturers), would be 
to eliminate the factor of transportation facilities from the 
advantages or disadvantages of particular localities for pro- 
duction. The great city would then distribute its products 
no more cheaply than the small city. 

Of the remaining facilities for production, there is no pre- 
ponderance on the side of the great commercial centres. 
The important functions of buying and selling, and the 
securing of capital and credit, which formerly determined the 

^ E. P. Alexander, Railway Practice, p. 16. 



CAUSES 



205 



location of many enterprises in the commercial centres, can 
now all be accomplished by means of a city office ; there is 
not the slightest need of bringing the factory itself to the 
city. On the other hand, the small town has the great ad- 
vantage of much lower rents and taxes, which in most cases 
will be decisive, especially if the town offers freedom from 
taxation and sufficient land for a building site as an induce- 
ment, a poHcy that has been the making of many a small 
city in Michigan, New Jersey and other commonwealths.^ 
As regards the supply of labor, the relative advantages of 
city and country differ according to the kind of occupations. 
As a rule, the wages of skilled workmen are higher in the 
city than in the village, largely because of the greater effi- 
ciency of labor organizations. Even where wages rule the 
same, many employers have abandoned the great city to 
escape other exactions of the labor unions. The typogra- 
phers have one of the strongest of trade unions, and their 
aggressiveness has already caused the removal to suburbs or 
small cities of the printing houses of several New York and 
Boston publishers. It is difficult to say how far this move- 
ment will extend ; it is opposed now with all the strength of 
the trade unions in the city, and on the other hand, improved 
means of communication may in the course of time permit 
the formation of labor organizations in the country that will 
be as strong and efficient as those in the city, where large 
numbers who can meet together on short notice render a 
powerful association easier of formation. When that time 
arrives, the small town loses one of its attractions for the 
manufacturer. 

With regard to unskilled labor, the case is somewhat differ- 
ent. The great city contains a large population that is 

^On the other hand, it often happens that a firm of manufacturers build a 
factory in the open country, and start a land speculation of their own. The re- 
sult in either case is a small manufacturing town. 



2o6 ' 1HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

uneducated, unskilled and poverty-stricken. Incapable of 
organization, it sells its energies to the bidder at starvation 
wages. Its standard of living is that of the " submerged 
tenth" of London, or the slum population of New York and 
Chicago. Although rent and the necessaries of life are higher 
in the great city than in the rural districts, the middleman 
who runs the " sweat-shop" finds cheap city labor more sub- 
missive and profitable. In England such industries as glove- 
making, hand-made lace, etc., are pursued successfully in 
the rural districts, where female labor is to be secured 
cheaply. The disadvantage of such labor, however, is its 
irregularity, which has prevented its employment in this 
country. 

On the whole, the great city seems now to be at a disad- 
vantage in manufacturing, except in the case of cheap and 
unskilled labor, such as that engaged in the clothing trade.' 

The existence of other manufacturing enterprises in the 
metropolis may probably be set down to one of the follow- 
ing causes : ( i ) Certain old establishments started on the 
outskirts of the city in an earlier period, and now loath to 
remove, when the city's growth has enclosed them. (2) 
Certain industries requiring either traditionally skilled labor, 
which is not yet to be found outside the original seat, or a 
high development of technique and art. (3) Many indus- 
tries whose product is chiefly for local consumption. The 
number of these is large, since the cities contain so large a 
proportion of scientific and mechanical contrivances of the 
age. New York and Chicago together probably possess a 
larger number of the modern web-perfecting printing presses 
than all the rest of the United States. Putting together all the 
paraphernalia of a great commercial city, vehicles of all kinds, 
vaults and safes, elevated railway apparatus, etc., one will see 
the necessity of the existence in the great city of a large num- 

1 The clothing manufacture is the principal industry of New York City. 



CA USES 



207 



ber of mechanical industries. To these must be added the 
enterprises that cater to the wants of the rich consumers of a 
commercial city — furniture, table-ware, carriages, etc. Some 
of the articles might, indeed, be made outside the city, but 
there is considerable advantage in "being on the ground." 
(4) Certain industries whose raw materials come equally by 
land and water routes. In this case the point of intersection 
— a commercial centre — will be the most economical place 
of assemblage. An instance in point is the iron and steel 
industry of Chicago. 

That local consumption, unlimited supply of cheap labor, 
and other considerations just mentioned, rather than natural 
advantages, determine the location of manufacturing indus- 
tries in the great city, plainly appears in the Census Statistics 
of Manufactures {Yzxt III, p. xxxvii) which show that the 
six leading industries of New York according to net value of 
product in 1890, were — 

1. Men's clothing — factory product. 

2. Newspapers and periodicals. 

3. Women's clothing — factory product. 

4. Tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. 

5. Malt liquors. 

6. Book and job printing and publishing. 

With all the advantages for manufacturing industry pos- 
sessed by the village or small city, it may look as if the 
country were destined to be covered with industrial villages 
built up around one or two immense factories. But there 
are many forces to oppose this tendency. In the first place, 
one large modern factory alone gives employment to hun- 
dreds of operatives and tends to attract other industries, for 
it is a well understood fact that place-specialization is ex- 
tended not to a single trade but to a group of allied trades.^ 
Hence, when the benefits of specialization cause a manu- 

^ Marshall, Principles of Eco7iomics, 353. 



2o8 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

facturer to confine himself to a single process in any in- 
dustry, say weaving in the textile trade, it is natural for 
other firms carrying on the processes of carding, dyeing, 
etc., to locate their establishments in the vicinity. Auxiliary 
trades and repair shops also attach themselves to the group. 
Further, there are by-products to be utilized ; thus it hap- 
pened that the erection of a large tannery in a western New 
York village was shortly followed by that of a glue-factory. 
Finally, in a factory town where the labor of one sex is ex- 
clusively employed, other industries will frequently spring 
up to utilize the labor of the opposite sex. Thus one of the 
earliest factories in the city of New Britain, Conn., was 
devoted to the manufacture of carpenters' rules and levels, 
and employed male labor alone ; it was not long before a 
cotton factory, in which the cheap and abundant labor of 
women and children could be used to advantage, was planted 
in the town. A similar tendency' has caused the location 
of textile factories in mining, metal and machine towns in 
England. 

These are some of the reasons why an industrial village 
soon becomes a large town. But the process does not stop 
there. New factories are apt to seek the neighborhood of 
old establishments in the same industry on account of the 
" initial difficulties " (familiar in the "infant industry" tariff 
argument) which attend the upbuilding of an industry in an 
entirely new atmosphere. The advantages of inherited skill 
and traditions favorable to the genesis of improvements, 
created by friction among the followers of the same skilled 
trade in one place, have been well described by Professor 
Marshall : " The mysteries of the trade become no mys- 
teries ; but are as it were in the air, and children learn of 
them unconsciously. Good work is rightly appreciated, 
inventions and improvements in machinery, in processes, 

^ Marshall, Principles of Economics, 353. 



CAUSES 



209 



and the general organization of the business have their 
merits promptly discussed ; if one man starts a new idea, it 
is taken up by others and combined with suggestions of 
their own ; and thus it becomes the source of new ideas. 
And presently subsidiary trades grow up in the neighbor- 
hood, supplying it with implements and materials, organiz- 
ing its traffic and in many ways conducing to the economy 
of its material." ' In former periods the costs of transporta- 
tion afforded some protection to " infant industries," but the 
scaling down of these costs allows the established business 
in a distant city to compete with the local industry on equal 
terms in the local market. As we have seen, discriminating 
or dififerential rates in favor of competitive points are alleged 
as the reason for the decay of Western villages, 

V. SECONDARY OR INDIVIDUAL CAUSES. 

At bottom the question of the distribution of population 
is a question of economic organization, of the play of eco- 
nomic forces which we have been studying in the preceding 
sections. These economic forces, however, act upon men in 
various ways to produce the necessary shifting of population ; 
they play upon their motives to draw them where their pro- 
ductive power will be greatest. Legislation is a necessary 
part of the movement ; sometimes legislators aid the action 
of economic forces blindly, at other times consciously and 
deliberately. In many cases the political and social move- 
ment seems to be independent of, and even antecedent to, the 
economic movement. 

There is no doubt that what was at first an effect of 
economic causes, has in its turn become a cause. The tene- 
ment house classes, for instance, came to the city in order to 
better their condition — that was an economic cause. But 
once settled in the city their love of society becomes so great 

^ op. cit„ 352. See also Schulze-Gavernitz, The Cotton Trade, 82. 



210 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

that they will not leave the city for the country even when 
they might thereby greatly improve their material condition. 
The effect has now become cause : these working classes 
furnish the manufacturer with an abundant labor supply and 
induce new industries to settle in the city. There is thus to 
be seen a continued interaction of cause and effect; and 
although we hold the growth of cities to be a matter of eco- 
nomic organization, we must not neglect what may be called 
secondary, or in contradistinction to the general causes 
already discussed, individual causes of the movement. For 
convenience of discussion, these may be classed as economic, 
political and social. 

§ I. Economic Causes. — Obviously, if the efficient organiza- 
tion of the industrial powers of society requires a transfer- 
ence of productive power from agriculture to manufactures, 
the transfer will be obtained by elevating the condition of the 
men in the latter industry or depressing the condition of the 
agriculturists. Such is the significance of the general agri- 
cultural depression that has been felt in all the older agri- 
cultural countries for twenty years. The introduction of 
machinery and the opening up of virgin fields in Argentina 
and the American West have rendered unnecessary and un- 
profitable much of the agricultural labor in Germany, France, 
England,^ and the Eastern States of America. Amid such 
circumstances a considerable rural emigration is to be ex- 
pected, and it has everywhere taken place. Without going 
into European statistics,^ we may measure the extent of the 

^"Of 1,995 ex-metropolitan sub-districts in England and Wales dealt with in 
the census report, 945 show a decline of population; and, roughly speaking, these 
localities constitute the farm land of the country." Graham, litiral Exodus, 11. 
Additional statistics will be found elsewhere in this essay. 

"■' The subject of rural depopulation has given rise to considerable literature. In 
England, where the agricultural depression has been most severely felt, Parliament- 
ary commissions have accumulated an enormous amount of evidence. The final 
report of the Royal Agricultural Commission of 1897 brings a long inquiry to an 



CA USES 2 1 1 

movement in the United States from the data in the Eleventh 
Census. A glance at the " map showing gain or loss of rural 
population between 1880 and 1890" will give a good idea of 
the extent of the movement/ The area in which the rural 
population ^ declined includes most of Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois and a large part of 
Indiana and Iowa. The States in which this area of declin- 
ing rural population embraced more than half of the total 
area are the following : 

Per cent. Per cent. 

1 Nevada 90.50 6 New Hampshire ... . 63.10 

2 New York 82.66 7 Ohio 61.39 

3 Vermont 77.20 8 Connecticut 60.85 

4 Illinois 65.73 9 Marylapd 54.1 1 

5 Maine 64.96 

end. A popular treatment of the subject is given in two volumes of Methuen's 
Social Science series : IVie Rural Exodus, by P. A. Graham, and Back to the 
Land, by H. E. Moore, and in Dr. Longstaff' s article on " Depopulation," in 
Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy ; while the statistics for England ap- 
pear in Dr. Ogle's article on "The Alleged Rural Depopulation," J. of St, Soc, 
1S89, vol. lii. Dr. Longstaff presented additional statistics for England and other 
countries in the same yoiirnal'va. 1893, ^o^- ^^i- 

Agricultural conditions in Germany were thoroughly investigated in 1892-3 by 
the Verein fiir Socialpolitik {cf. the Verein's publications, vols, liii-lvi, Verhalt- 
nisse der Landarbeiter ; an excellent summary of which is given by Drage in the 
British Royal Commission on Labor's series of Foreign Repo7-ts, 1893'). See 
further the essay by A. Wirminghaus, " Stadt und Land " in Jahrbucher fiir 
Nationalokonomie und Statistik, vol. Ixiv; and one by Vicomte de Beaumaire in 
y, of St. Soc, xlix, 450. 

For France the subject was thoroughly treated some twenty-five years ago by 
Legoyt, E>u Progres des Agglomeratiojts tirbaines et de F Emigration rurale, and 
has since been continuously discussed in periodical literature, to which references 
will be found in Lavasseur, La Population Franfaise. 

The causes of " Agricultural Discontent " are analyzed by Dr. Emerick in the 
Pol. Science Quar., xi, while the whole subject is systematically and scientifically 
discussed in Buchenberger's Agrarpolitik. 

^ nth Cen. Pop., pt. i, p. Ixx, map 4; also in the Statistical Atlas of the United 
States. 

^ The method employed in these calculations is as follows : " From the total 
population of each county in 1890 has been subtracted the population of all cities 



212 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

The actual net loss in the States whose rural population 
decreased in the decade 1 880-1 890 is as follows: 

1 New York . 163,176 7 Nevada I3f085 

2 Illinois 66,741 8 Connecticut 11,964 

3 Maine 24,391 9 New Hampshire ... 8,575 

4 Vermont 18,944 ^o Massachusetts .... 6,522 

5 Maryland 1 7,220 1 1 Rhode Island 508 

6 Ohio 13,274 

In many other States the rural population increased so 
slightly as to be virtually stationary ; thus the gain in Dela- 
ware was but 40, in Indiana 8,073. The States mainly 
affected are the New England States, New York, Ohio, Indi- 
ana and Illinois, whose agriculture has been languishing 
under the competition of Western farms. Nevada's decrease 
may be ascribed to other causes.^ 

The rural emigrants from Europe and the Eastern States 
of America do not all settle upon the farming lands of the 
West. On the contrary, many of them go to the nearest city 
or town. Such internal migration we know to be on the in- 
crease in Europe, while the extraordinarily rapid growth of 

or other compact bodies of population which number looo or more. From the 
population of the same counties in 1880 has been subtracted the population of the 
same places at that time, and the remainders, which are assumed to be the rural 
population are compared for increase or decrease." — Op. cit. p. Ixix. 

' Rural depopulation in five great agricultural States is strikingly brought out in 
the following table : 

Number of townships which were 
Stationary Gained Lost 

in population 1880-90. Total. 

Ohio 32 529 755 1,316 

Indiana 16 496 482 994 

Illinois 45 579 800 1,424 

Iowa 29 893 691 1,613 

Michigan 22 506 416 944 

Total 144 3,003 3,144 6,291 

— Fletcher, "The Doom of the Small Town," /^7r«w, xix, 215. 



CA C/SES 



213 



American cities indicates the existence of similar condi- 
tion here ; and it has been statistically proved that interstate 
migration is declining in the United States.^ From all but 
three ^ of the eleven States given in the list above, emigra- 
tion decreased in the last census decade. 

What motives induce the farmer's boy and the village lad 
to go to the city? At bottom it is undoubtedly the eco- 
nomic motive, although it may seldom resolve itself into a 
matter of dollars and cents, of higher wages pure and simple. 
Agricultural laborers in England are leaving the farms 
whether they have low wages, as in Wiltshire, or high wages, 
as in Northumberland.3 The skilled mechanic, indeed, often 
moves from the town to the city in order to obtain better 
wages ; but with the mass of the young men who go to the 
city, the magnet is the superior field for ambition which 
modern industrial organization has rendered the city. In 
former times a larger proportion of the prizes of life could be 
attained by the villager or countryman; to-day his only 
chance for leadership is in politics. In the trades and pro- 
fessions the great prizes must now be sought in centres of 
wealth, while in business there are no rewards at all for 
iirst-class ability outside the cities. Every young man is 
optimistic as regards his prospective achievements in life, 
and longs to compete for leadership ; to enter the fray, to 
rise in the world, to make his mark, he must go to one of the 
great cities, which " afford such extraordinary facilities for 
the division and for the combination of labor, for the exer- 
cise of the arts and for the practice of all the professions." 

§ 2. Political Causes. — As a political influence in favor of 
city growth must be reckoned all the measures of the state 

^ Willcox, " The Decrease of Interstate Migration " in Political Science Quarterly, 
vol. X (1895). 

'^ Illinois, Maine, Nevada. 
' Graham, Rural Exodus, 9. 



214 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



that promote commerce and manufactures. The political 
unit and economic unit were identical for so many centuries 
that political growth meant the enlargement of the economic 
territory and vice versa. When the village economy and the 
town economy gave way to a national economy, Mercantil- 
ism was one of the causes. To-day, Protectionism discrimi- 
nates in favor of manufacturing industry; at the same time, 
other forms of taxation (by the commonwealths) discrimi- 
nate against the farmer, so that there is some ground for 
saying that legislation is one of the causes of agricultural 
depression. 

It would be tedious to enumerate the various legislative 
acts which have influenced the distribution of population ; 
they may be summarized under a few heads as follows : 

(i) Legislation promoting freedom of trade. This acts 
in the same way as improved means of communication, by 
enlarging the market. As regards internal commerce, per- 
fect freedom is now virtually realized by measures adopted in 
many of the European countries only in the present century. 
America, however, has not had any important restrictions on 
the internal movement of goods since 1789. 

(2) Legislation promoting freedom of migration. This 
policy also favors the growth of cities by giving them greater 
opportunities for securing laborers from the superfluous rural 
population. Mediaeval restrictions had to be swept away to 
secure freedom of migration and of domicile. It was only in 
1795 that England modified the infamous law of settlement, 
which permitted the local authorities to drive any newcomer 
out of the parish under the pretence that he might become 
chargeable to the local poor rates. It was now enacted that 
a person should not be removed on the ground that he was 
likely to become chargeable to the parish, but only when he 
had " become actually chargeable."^ In Germany, freedom 

^ Aschrott and Preston-Thomas, The English Poor-Law Systevi, i8. 



CA USES 2 1 5 

of movement (^Freizitgigkeii) has been more recently secured. 
The right to leave a community was of course first recog- 
nized in Prussia with the abolition of serfdom in 1808; the 
right to take up residence in another community than that of 
birth was long denied from fear of the responsibility of poor 
relief, and it was not till 1 842 that the Prussian law of settle- 
ment followed the English act of 1795. The mobility of 
labor is now an accomplished fact in all civilized countries, 
as it has always been in the United States. 

(3) Centralized Administration. The tendency toward 
administrative centralization is undeniable both in the United 
States and in England.^ It exists not only in the transfer- 
ence of various duties from the local to the central authori- 
ties, but also in the consolidation of municipalities like New 
York and London. The transference of governmental ma- 
chinery from the country to the city affects directly and indi- 
rectly considerable numbers of the population.^ Especially 
is this true of military states like France and Germany. For- 
merly garrisons were much more scattered than they are now, 
when strategical reasons (railways!) require concentration. 
The young recruits from the country, after a compulsory 
residence of three years in the great city, yield to its fascina- 
tions and remain there under almost any conditions of life. 

(4) Land Tenure. Exaggerated importance has often 
been attached to the form of land tenure as a cause of the 

' The development of central administrative control in England is admirably 
set forth in Dr. M. R. Maltbie's English Local Government of To-Day (Colum- 
bia University Studies.) 

^ Indirectly by contributing to the dullness of country life. The removal of 
local business to the State or national capital restricts by so much the range of 
local ambition and endeavor. The movement has proceeded further in England 
than in this country, but recent legislation in New York (excise, State insane 
asylums, etc.) manifests the tendency toward centralization, Cf. H. C. Stephens, 
Parochial Self- Government in Rural Districts (London, 1893), Parti, ch, v, 
" The Parish and Rural Depopulation." 



2i6 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

migration from the country to the city.^ And yet it has been 
shown that the rural emigration is as great from the districts 
of small holdings in southern and western Germany as from 
the north-eastern districts of large holdings;^ from rural 
France with its peasant proprietors as from rural England, 
with its latifundia. Peasant proprietorship in England does 
not stop the drift to the cities.^ " The movement is confined 
to no one locality, but is to be observed in every district 
that lies remote from towns. "'^ The existence of communal 
lands, the Allemende, in Switzerland, has been thought by 
some to have had a decentralizing influence.^ But our sta- 
tistics (Table LXXVII) show that the concentration of popu- 
lation has been going on in Switzerland at an extremely rapid 
rate. If the system of land tenure has anywhere had a real 

^ Agrarian agitators who repudiate Henry George's policy of land nationaliza- 
tion, still hold to the necessity of Allemenden (commons) in each village, which 
will enable the agricultural laborer and smaller cultivators to pasture their cattle 
or sheep, if the drift to the cities is to be stopped. Cf. H. Sohnrey, Der Zug vom 
Lande und die Sociale Revolution ; von der Goltz, Die Idndlichen Arbeiter- 
classen imd die Stadt. 

*Cf. books cited in foot-note, p. 21 1, especially Sering, Z??V innere Kolonisation 
im ostlichen Deutschland (vol. Ivi of the publications of Verein fiir Social-politik) . 
In Mecklenburg, the system of small holdings has been established, and " the 
conditions of labor are especially favorable;" but the children are not willing to 
follow the life of the agriculturist, and the emigration from Mecklenburg is ex- 
ceeded in volume by no other province of Prussia except East Prussia, which in 
1 885-90 lost more inhabitants through emigration than it gained through the ex- 
cess of births over deaths, and hence actually declined in population (c/ cit., p. 6.). 
The statistical tables in vols. Ivi and Iviii (p. 55) of the Verein's publications 
clearly show that agriculturists prosper in Germany in proportion to their nearness 
to industrial cities, rather than in consequence of any particular form of land 
tenure. 

^ In 1890 Lincolnshire had 1,000 more small holdings (under 50 acres) than 
any other county in Great Britain ; yet " the people are scurrying out of Lincoln- 
shire faster than out of any other rural district in Great Britain." — Graham, 
Rural Exodus, 137. 

* Graham, op. cit., 9. 

^ Laveleye, Primitive Property, 80. 



CAUSES 



217 



influence upon the distribution of population, it is in Austra- 
lia, where the squatter system of free land-grabbing has con- 
centrated land ownership in a few hands and kept the people 
from the soil ; but geographical and cHmatic conditions have 
also had a most important influence, by making sheep-rais- 
ing (which requires few laborers) more profitable than agri- 
culture.^ In Victoria they have been pursuing a policy 
favorable to the taking up of land;^ a progressive land tax 
since 1877 has discouraged large estates; the Act of 1884 
contains stringent regulations against owners who are not 
bond fide cultivators, and there has been an import duty on 
cereals. Notwithstanding these endeavors and the fact that 
agricultural production has increased in a larger ratio than 
population,3 the proportion of the population outside the 
cities has been steadily decreasing.* It is still too early to 
judge of the ultimate efifects of the radical land legislation in 
New Zealand. 

(5) Miscellaneous. Various special acts of the legislature 
have at different times contributed toward the concentration 
of population. Examples are the Enclosure Acts in Eng- 
land,5 so numerous during the reign of George III, and the 
modern creation of deer forests.^ The disbandment of the 
great Union armies at the close of the Civil War sent to the 

'The 1891 census report of New South Wales (p. 128) says that the concen- 
tration of population in seaboard cities is the " only possible mode of develop- 
ment in Australia because there are no great rivers with leagues of navigable 
waterway stretching into the heart of the country, far remote from the seaports. 
Communication with the outer world has begun and ended with a good roadstead 
for shipping." 

^ Epps, Land Systems of Australia., 79-83. 

^ Ibid., 2^. 

*From 45 per cent, in 1 881 to 41 per cent, in 1 891. 

^Toynbee, Industrial Revolution (Humboldt ed.j, p. 89. 

* Longstaff, Art. " Depopulation " in Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Econ- 
omy, vol. i. 



2i8 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

cities many hundreds of men who found their places at home 
occupied ; although the West absorbed perhaps even larger 
numbers. Considered as a secondary cause or reflector of 
economic causes, politics is a considerable factor in the dis- 
tribution of population. 

§ 3. Social Causes. — To enumerate the social advantages 
that the cities possess as compared with the country would 
demand too much space, but most of them will be found 
to be embraced in the following classification : 

(i) Educational. The city alone must be the residence 
of those who study art, medicine, music, etc. Even in the 
matter of primary education, city advantages are superior to 
those of the rural districts, though not to those of the vil- 
lages. Where, as in New York State, there are 3,000 school 
districts with an average daily attendance of fewer than ten 
pupils,^ facilities are wanting for thorough instruction accord- 
ing to modern standards. 

(2) Amusements. The opera, philharmonic concerts, 
art exhibits, etc., may be classed as educational advantages 
or mere amusements, but there are many other forms of recre- 
ation afforded by the city and not by the country, which 
come under the head of amusements alone. 

(3) The standard of living. The desire for a higher 
standard of life, for purely material comforts and luxuries, 
brings many people to the city. Food is to be procured 
at prices almost as low as in the country, and in vastly 

'Cf. Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1896, vol. i, p. x; the 
exact figure is 2,983, while there were 7,529 districts in which the average attend- 
ance varied from one to twenty. Superintendent Skinner says that the cities have 
sucked the life out of the country schools; since 1S60 the rural school population 
of the state having decreased 30 per cent. On the other hand it is to be remem- 
bered that the largest rural emigration in England is from the districts with the 
best educational advantages (^Census of i8gi, iv, 44). There are many objectors 
to popular education in England ; but popular education is not so much at fault 
as the particular kind of instruction. 



CA USES 2 1 9 

greater variety; while everything else is cheaper. The 
buyer enjoys a larger consumer's rent, as the economists 
say; that is, he can buy at prices much below those he 
would be willing to give if pressed, thus deriving a surplus 
of enjoyment. Then there are conveniences to be had in 
the city which in many cases could not be obtained in the 
country, on account of the small numbers to bear the 
heavy expenses. Such for example are establishments that 
bring light and fuel to one's door, furnish protection against 
fire (water works and fire departments), sewerage, rapid 
transit, etc. The field of municipal activity has been con- 
stantly widening, until now the city furnishes its residents 
not only parks and playgrounds, but museums, libraries and 
art galleries ;^ not only hospitals, but baths and washhouses, 
municipal lodging houses and model tenements. In order 
to guarantee the purity of ^food supplies the city has its 
abattoirs and market stalls, its public analysts and milk 
inspectors.^ This movement is not transitory ; it promises 
to continue all over the world, notwithstanding the cry of 
" Socialism." The advantages of collective action here appear 
at their best. But there will still be left a large field for pri- 
vate associations, whose activities have already added to the 
comforts of city life. Consider the conveniences at the dis- 
posal of iYi&finde siecle city housewife : a house with a good 
part of the old-fashioned portable furniture built into it, e. g., 
china cabinets, refrigerators, ward-robes, sideboards, cheval 
glasses, bath tubs, etc. ; electric lights, telephones and elec- 
tric buttons in every room, automatic burglar alarms, etc. 

^ Melbourne employs a city organist, who gives free concerts on the fine organ 
in the city hall. Boston is experimenting in the same direction. 

'^ Cf. Shaw, Municipal Government in Great Britain, ch. vii, " Social Activities 
of British Towns." An exhaustive study of municipal undertakings has been 
made by Dr. M. R. Maltbie in Municipal Functions, constituting the December, 
1898, number of Municipal Affairs. 



220 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

" The laundryman long ago joined the letter carrier, butcher, 
milkman, grocer and baker in their periodical visits to the 
basement door ; and whenever madame shuts up her house 
— all barred and bolted and chained as it has been by the 
builders — she turns it over to a sort of care-taking or watch- 
man's company. If she moves out of a house, there are 
companies to send packers who will bundle up her belong- 
ings with professional skill, and that will store them for her 
by carrying them in padded vans to lire-proof warehouses. 
Her rugs and carpets are now beaten by machinery, and she 
may hire her house cleaning done precisely as she gives out 
her washing. Before she rents a house she may order it in- 
spected by a private company that will report upon the char- 
acter of its construction and plumbing, and this company also 
offers to proceed at law against all nuisances in otherwise 
nice neighborhoods. Thus has vanished the necessity for 
drawing water, hewing wood, keeping a cow, churning, laun- 
dering clothes, cleaning house, beating carpets, and very 
much of the rest of the onerous duties of housekeeping, as 
our mothers knew it."^ 

(4) Intellectual Associations. The village is dull not only 
to the man pursuing light amusements, but to him who seeks 
cultivated associations, for in these days the cities are the 
centres of intellect as of wealth. Even the college town with 
its intellectual atmosphere is to many high-minded people 
less stimulating than the city, where intellectual ability is so 
much more varied.^ 

(5) Such are some of the advantages of city life; some 

' Julian Ralph. Cf. also Salmon, Domestic Service. 

^ The decay of the small town caused by the emigration of the best minds to 
the city long ago gave rise to a religious problem which has been considerably 
discussed, namely, the religious destitution of villages. See the chapter on this 
subject in J. H. Crooker, Problems in American Society, which contains references 
to periodical literature. On the general subject of village deterioration, see 
Fletcher, " Decay of the Small Town," Forum, xix, 237. 



CAUSES 221 

of them are modern, and some are as old as civilization. 
Not the least important factor in city growth is gregarious- 
ness or the social instinct itself, which appears to be stronger 
than ever before in these days of restlessness. English 
investigators have noticed an increased objection among 
agricultural laborers to isolation.^ " The isolation of the 
farm home ; no provision for satisfying the cravings of the 
youngpeoplefor having good social times" are reasons given 
for discontent with rural life by farmers of New York to a 
committee of the New York Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor.^" Another thing to be reckoned with 
is the passion for " the crowd, the hum, the shock of men," 
among those who have once lived in the city. One of the 
trying difficulties of social workers in their efforts to improve 
the housing conditions of the tenement population is the 
strong desire of these poor people to be among their associ- 
ates, and their absolute refusal to settle in more comfortable 
homes in the country or in the suburbs. The story is told 
of a kind lady who found a widow with a large family of chil- 
dren living in the depths of poverty and filth in the city. 
She moved them to a comfortable country home, where, with 
a moderate amount of exertion, they were sure of a living. 
Some six months later, her agent reported the disappearance 
of the family, and going back to their old haunts in the city 
tenement district, she found the family living there again. In 
great surprise she asked the widow how they could leave 
their comfortable home in the country for such squalid quar- 
ters in the city, and received the reply, " Folks is more com- 
pany nor sthoomps, anyhow."^ 

' Cf. W. C. Little's report for the British Labor Commission, Fifth and Final 
Report. 

■^ Cf. Leaflet No. i, An Inquiry into the Causes of Agricultural Depression in 
New York State, p. 9. 

'Kingsbury (President's Address at 1895 meeting of the American Social 
Science Association), "The Tendency of Men to Live in Cities^' in Journal of 
Social Science, XXXIII, 8. 



222 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

(6) Finally, we have to take into consideration the forces 
which in recent times have spread a knowledge of the advan- 
tages of city life among all classes of the community. Edu- 
cation has a great deal to do with it, especially the half 
education which prevails in the rural districts and gives the 
farmers' boys a glimpse of a more attractive life, without 
teaching them how to attain such a life at home.^ Then the 
newspaper comes in to complete the enchantment, with its 
gibes against the " hayseed" and " country bumpkin." Thus 
the spread of information, made possible by nineteenth cen- 
tury improvements in communication, creates a distaste for 
country life, and more especially for rural life ; while easier 
travel enables young men lightly to abandon the distasteful 
life. 

VI. CONCLUSIONS. 

To what practical conclusions regarding the future distri- 
bution of population do the principles deduced in the pres- 
ent chapter lead? Are the rural districts and villages to 
continue pouring out streams of migration, which will flow 
toward the great cities? Or is the migratory movement 
from country to city but a temporary event, a transitional 
phenomenon.^ The questions deserve at least an attempt to 
answer. 

' Mr. Lecky seems to regard this, with an " increased restlessness of character 
and much stronger appetite for amusement and excitement," as the principal 
cause of agricultural depopulation. He affirms that national (popular) education 
produces " among the poor a disdain for mere manual labor and for the humbler 
forms of menial service." (^Deinocracy and Liberty, ii, 477). But Mr. Lecky is 
not a Liberal in politics. Mr. Pearson has a much more pleasant way of expressing 
the same fact. He says that state education is raising the poorest classes to the 
level of the higher class with its taste and ambitions, and they are able to com- 
pete with it in commerce. "The cleverest boys of the village schools do not care 
to remain ploughboys." (^National life and Character, p. 145). 

* This is the opinion of Prof. Karl Bucher, who says it is due to the transition 
from the town economy to the national economy. The features of the latter per- 
iod, in his judgment, are similar to those of the movement toward the towns in the 
nineteenth century. — Entstehitng der Volkswirthschaft, 303. 



CAUSES 223 

The industries of the human race may be conveniently 
grouped thus : (i) extractive, including agriculture, mining; 
(2) distributive, including commerce, wholesale and retail 
trade, transportation, communication, and all the media of 
exchange; (3) manufacturing; (4) services and free in- 
comes, including domestic servants, government oflficials, 
professional men and women, students, etc. 

The extractive industries generally require the dispersion 
of the persons engaged therein,^ In particular, agriculture, 
the principal extractive industry, cannot be prosecuted by 
persons residing in large groups. It is conceivable that 
transportation methods might be so perfected as to permit 
the cultivator of the soil to reside in a city, but it is very 
unlikely. On the contrary, the improvements heretofore 
made in transportation have, as we have seen in Sec. II, only 
strengthened the dispersion of the agricultural population by 
permitting uninhabited parts of the earth's surface to be 
settled and brought into cultivation. This will probably be 
the development of the future as far as human eyes can see. 

The distributive industries, on the other hand, are dis- 
tinctly centralizing in their efifects upon the distribution of 
the population engaged in them. As methods of distribution 
have been improved and the distributive area enlarged, the 
tendency toward concentration has increased. The consoH- 
dation of two railway lines transfers employees from the 
junction to the terminal city. Every improvement in the 
mechanism of exchange favors the commercial centre. Of 
even greater importance is the fact that the production of 

^ In mining districts, it is true, the population is oftener than not quite dense. 
Nevertheless, it is seldom concentrated in great cities, the Transvaal being an ex- 
ception to the general rule. At present about one-fourth of the total white popu- 
lation of the South African Republic is to be found in the Rand, {i. e., in the 
vicinity of Johannesburg), and Mr. Bryce (^hnpressions of South Africa, p. 467), 
thinks that ten years hence the Rand may contain 500,000 persons, or about one- 
half the total white population. 



224 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



wealth is increasing at leaps and bounds ; every year there 
is vastly greater wealth to distribute, and the process of dis- 
tribution will require a growing percentage of all the work- 
ers for its efficient action. Hence, the more the social organ- 
ism grows, and the higher its evolution, so much greater 
will the commercial centres become. 

Manufacturing industries also tend toward the concentra- 
tion of population, and up to recent years manufacturing 
centres were coincident with the commercial centres, i. e., 
the great cities. Recently the equalization of transportation 
facilities and the excessive rents of great cities have caused 
the managers of a good many industries to abandon them as 
sites in favor of the suburb or small town. The reason that 
this movement does not make for complete decentralization 
is that production on a large scale is the goal toward which 
all industries are tending with enlarging and more regular 
markets, and more convenient means of communication ; and 
production on a large scale requires, as a rule, the large fac- 
tory and the grouping of allied trades. Other obstacles to 
decentralization are the presence in the large city of a supply 
of cheap, unskilled labor ; of the best knowledge of art and 
technique ; and especially of numerous industries whose pro- 
ducts are intended for local consumption. 

The remainder of the population will in the main follow 
where the preceding classes lead. Those engaged in the 
professions or the rendering of personal service must reside 
near the consumers of their products, that is, where people 
are numerous and money is plenty. Wealth is always con- 
centrated in commercial centres, which therefore attract those 
employments that Adam Smith called " unproductive." To 
be sure, commercial cities do not always patronize music, 
painting and the other fine arts, but that is the general rule. 

Thus it appears that the efficient industrial organization of 
a nation on modern lines requires the concentration of pop- 



CA USES 



225 



ulation in virtually all the industries except agriculture ; and 
since this industry, for several decades, has been able to 
deliver its product by employing a continually smaller pro- 
portion of the total population,^ it follows that the proportion 
in the centres of population has been increasing. This is the 
simple but philosophical explanation of the movement known 
by the popular phrase, " The Drift to the Cities." 

Could it be known that the law of diminishing returns in 
agriculture would not come in force again, there would be 
some certainty in predicting a continuance of the movement 
toward concentration of the population ; until it does reappear 
there will be no movement " back to the land." The reason 
why practical men deny the existence of the abstract law of 
diminishing returns — historically considered — depends upon 
the counteracting forces, which may be discussed in two 
groups. In the first place, science and invention have come to 
the aid of the farmers with the tender of fertilizers, improved 
processes, such as the rotation of crops, labor-saving machin- 
ery, etc., and have thus enabled them to increase their pro- 
duction without increasing the amount of labor. But the real 
counter-agent, without which the per capita product must 
inevitably have declined in spite of this increased produc- 
tion, is the opening up of new territory. It is easy to see 
that twenty men will not be able to produce twenty times as 
much garden truck as one man, if their energies are confined 
to the piece of land that the one man has been using ; but if 
his lot is surrounded with unoccupied land enough to give 

^ Mr. Hobson (in Evolution of Modern Capitalisni) admits that the proportion 
of the population engaged in agriculture in England has decreased, but argues that 
somewhere on the globe there must have been a growth of the rural population 
to furnish means of subsistence for the large agglomerations in industrial states. 
Now the United States has usually had an annual surplus of breadstuffs sufficient 
to cover England's deficiency ; the two countries together may therefore be re- 
garded as a self-sufficing economy. Nevertheless, the rural population in each 
has been proportionally diminishing for a hundred years. And in the other coun- 
tries which export breadstuffs, there is also an increasing concentration. 



226 "J^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

the twenty men full employment, the aggregate product 
may be multiplied twenty-fold or even more. This is 
essentially what has been happening in the world at large 
since the discovery of America : the per capita product of the 
cultivators of the soil has been kept up and even increased 
by the occupation of virgin land as fast as the old farms 
became crowded. 

But the amount of available and unoccupied land on the 
globe is not unlimited. The United States, east of the Mis- 
sissippi, is now pretty densely settled, and it is improbable 
that additional labor force would augment the per capita 
agricultural product very considerably. The West is fast 
approaching the East in this respect, and the amount of 
arable land still unoccupied is so small that ten, or at most 
twenty years, will find it all brought under cultivation. Cap- 
ital may aid the farmer in reclaiming barren lands, but sooner 
or later the time must come when capital will find more 
lucrative employment in manufacturing industries than in 
irrigation works on some desert plain of Arizona or New 
Mexico, or in fertilizers for Eastern farms. When capital 
thus ceases to replace labor in agriculture, the per capita 
product will diminish and, if population increases, there will 
result a movement "back to the land." 

But there are two contingencies which may postpone the 
necessity. One is the importation of breadstuffs from the as 
yet unopened lands of Canada, Australia, Russia, South 
America and Africa. The amount of arable and unoccupied 
land in these countries is of course imperfectly known. 
Optimists think that the extent of this territory is large 
enough to last the race indefinitely, but more careful statis- 
ticians, like Mr. Giffen, who have observed the rapid pace 
at which colonization is proceeding, are more conservative 
in their estimates.^ In any event, the present generation is 

^ Cf. the luminous essay, " The Utility of Common Statistics," in Giff en's 
Essays in Finance, 2d series. 



CAUSES 227 

not likely to see such a condition of "world-crowding" as to 
draw a larger proportion of Americans into agricultural 
pursuits.^ 

A second means of postponing the return to the fields, 
even with stationary arts of agriculture, consists in changes 
of consumption, a theme so suggestively treated by Pro- 
fessor Patten. The diversification of consumption is a 
remedy which men have in their own hands. If those 
classes of people who marry early and have large families 
to support with incomes that barely sufhce to buy bread and 
the other necessaries of life, would exercise more prudence 
and self-control and strive to attain a higher standard of 
life, they would probably consume a smaller quantity of the 
domestic staples and a larger quantity of luxuries. But a di- 
versification of consunlption even in the direction of economy 
would lessen the pressure toward diminishing returns ; for 
example, should rye or corn come into use as food, a great 
deal of land unsuited to wheat-growing would be profitably 
cultivated.^ 

Finally, some mention should be made of the possibilities 
of the ocean as a food-producer, which President Andrews 
discussed a few years since in the North American Review. 

Considering these possibilities and the more speculative 
possibilities of physical and chemical science in aiding agri- 
cultural production or even substituting chemical food-pro- 
ducts, it does not seem irrational to regard the law of 
diminishing returns as a very remote contingency. But the 

^ The writer therefore disagrees with Sir William Crookes, President of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1898, Mr. C. Wood Davis, 
who writes for the Forum, and ex- Governor John W. Bookmaker, of Ohio, all of 
whom predict an early scarcity in the wheat supply, which will considerably raise 
the price of wheat; ergo, produce an exodus from the cities to the fields. 

' It is unnecessary to pursue the subject further, as it has been so well devel- 
oped in Prof. Patten's works. Vide especially the Dynamics of Consumption, 
and The Premises of Political Economy. 



228 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

law of increasing returns, at present manifested in agricul- 
ture, would, if superseded, be followed first by the law of 
constant returns, which would require a permanently con- 
stant proportion of the population to be engaged in agricul- 
ture. When this happens, cities will cease to grow more 
rapidly than the rural districts. Only as population in- 
creases in density would its concentration take place ; but 
this itself would disturb the equilibrium and would therefore 
cause a movement away from the cities. The occurrence of 
these conditions is too remote to be predicted.^ 

In the immediate future, we may expect to see a continua- 
tion of the centralizing movement. While many manu- 
facturers are locating their factories in the small cities and 
towns, there are other industries that prosper most in the 
great cities. Commerce, moreover, emphatically favors the 
great centres, rather than the small or intermediate centres. 
And since, with ever-increasing production flowing from 
improved methods, commerce and trade are constantly ex- 
panding and absorbing an increasing proportion of the 
population, while manufacturing in a country where it has 
reached the stage of self-sufficiency employs a constant or 
even declining proportion of the population,^ the prospect is 

^ Even should the law of diminishing returns require a larger proportion of the 
population to be engaged in raising food, there is no reason for pessimism re- 
garding the per capita wealth and prosperity of society. If, for example, the 
present distribution of the population of the United States (two-fifths in agri- 
culture, three-fifths in other industries) should be reversed a century hence, and 
three-fifths needed in agriculture, the remaining two-fifths, as a result of the law 
of increasing returns, would produce more and better form-utilities than do three- 
fifths at present. (Clark, Philosophy of Wealth, loi.) 

" Occupation statistics are still very imperfect, but the inferences of the follow- 
ing English figures are confirmed by the French statistics extending back to 1851 : 
Percentages of the Population. 

Agriculture and Trade and 

mining. Mfc. Transport. Various. 

184I 22.7 27.1 12.9 37.3 

1851 24.9 32.7 I5.I 27.3 

1861 22.5 33.0 15.7 29.5 

1871 18.7 31.6 18.7 31.0 

1881 16.3 30.7 20.1 32.9 



CAUSES 



229 



that the larger cities, including of course their suburbs, will 
continue to absorb the superfluous population of the rural 
districts and villages; Greater London, New York, Paris, 
Berlin and Chicago show no signs of falling behind the 
smaller cities in rate of growth. 

The occupations classed as " various " include building trades, civil service, 
army, navy, professions and non-working classes. These, together with the com- 
mercial industries, are increasing proportionally, and, as already pointed out, 
tend toward the larger cities. The progress of employments is discussed in chap- 
ter viii of Hobson's Evolntioit of Modern Capita lis7>i, whence the foregoing sta- 
tistics are derived (p. 230). The American statistics are incomplete for the earlier 
years of the century, but since 1840, at least, the agricultural population has been 
decreasing in relative numbers, while, of course, the manufacturing population 
has increased even to the present time, although not to the same extent as com- 
merce and transportation. In 1820, the percentage of the total population en- 
gaged in agriculture was 21.49; i^^ 1840, 21.79; in 1870, 15.43; in 1890, 13.68. 
The similar percentages for manufactures were 1820, 3.63; 1840, 4.64; 1870, 
6.36; 1890, 8.13. (^Bulletin of the Dtpartjue'al of Labor, July, 1897, pp. 398-9.) 
The distribution of the " workers" (persons of 10 years old or over engaged in 
gainful occupations) at the last three censuses was as follows {Ibid., 397) : 

1870. 1880. 1890. 

Agriculture, fishing, mining 49-1 1 46.03 39.6$ 

Manufacturing and mechanical industries. 19.61 19-63 22.39 

Domestic and personal services 18.48 20.14 19.18 

Trade and transportation 9.83 10.73 14-63 

Professional services 2.97 3.47 4.15 

ICO. 100. 100. 



CHAPTER IV. 

URBAN GROWTH AND INTERNAL MIGRATION. 

The enormous and unprecedented growth of cities during 
the nineteenth century is often regarded as the result of a 
great migratory movement from the farm to the town ; the 
process appears in full light when one studies the growth of 
the Lancashire district in the thirties, or of Chicago with its 
vast throng of oversea immigrants. But before the recent 
growth of cities can be attributed solely to the factor of im- 
migration from country districts at home or abroad, it must 
be shown that such immigration is of recent orgin, coinciding 
with the recent concentration of population. 

Such a demonstration will not be at once forthcoming. 
The fact is that migration cityward is not an economic 
phenomenon peculiar to the nineteenth century. The com- 
plaints of the Physiocrats, the first economists, about the 
scarcity of labor in the rural districts should be generally 
familiar. Quesnay, in his celebrated article Fermiers in 
VEncylopedie, noted that the most energetic and intelli- 
gent countrymen migrated to the cities, and attributed it to 
the expenditure of money in Paris and other large towns by 
the courtiers and nobles. The Physiocrats were in agree- 
ment as to the existence of a migration cityward, which they 
called depopulation of the rural districts, and declared was 
of long standing in France. It certainly dates back to the 
mercantilist and industrial policy of Colbert in the seven- 
teenth century, and Legoyt quotes a writer of the fourteenth 
century, who complained of the increased difficulty of 
230] 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



231 



obtaining farm labor at remunerative rates, as confirmatory 
evidence of a rural emigration.^ In France the official re- 
ports from the provinces to the Hats generaux recommended 
restrictive measures in order to keep a large supply of labor 
on the farms. But in England, where a similar migratory 
movement was at this time in evidence, the governmental 
point of view was the city instead of the country. Hence 
both Elizabeth and James I issued proclamations forbidding 
migration into London, whose population was swelling to 
portentous dimensions. In Germany, too, the evidence 
points to a large internal migration in the late middle ages, 
although it was in large part between the towns themselves.^ 
Biicher, indeed, does not hesitate to compare the migratory 
movements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with 
those of the nineteenth, the underlying cause in each case 
being the transition from one stage of industry to another.' 
The most conclusive evidence of a large migration from 
the fields to the toWns, however, is afiforded by the bills of 
mortality begun in several cities in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries. These death reports formed the first 
material of the new science of demography or population 
statistics, at first known as "Political Arithmetic." Now 
these early bills of mortality almost uniformly showed more 
deaths than births each year; the natural result of which 
would be the decadence of the city. But on the contrary, 

^Des Agglomerations Urbaines, p. 7 : " Leopold Delille, {Etude sur la classe 
agricole en Normandie au moyen-age^, raconte que les chanoines de Mondaie, en 
Normandie, se plaignaient en 1388 que 'Ton ne peu trouver serviteur pour culti- 
ver et labourer les terres qui ne veuille plus gaigner que six serviteurs ne faisent 
au commencement du siecle.' " 

^ Cf. Bucher, " Die inneren Wanderungen und das Stadtewesen in ihrer ent- 
wicklungsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung," one of the brilliant essays in the collection 
entitled Die Entstehung der Volkswirthschaft. 

' Ibid., 285, 295, 303. In the middle ages the self-sufficing town was more 
likely to import artisans than merchandise. 



232 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the city grew; its population even increased more rapidly 
than the rural population. The simple explanation of such 
a state of affairs was a large emigration from the rural dis- 
tricts to the cities. And this was the conclusion of Captain 
John Graunt, the founder of the new science.' He estimated 
the annual immigration to London to be 6,000 persons.' 
While this number is purely conjectural, it raises a very 
strong presumption that migration to the metropolis was re- 
latively greater 250 years ago than it is to-day. For, 
between 1871 and 1881, with a population nine or ten times 
as large as in 1650, London's net immigration amounted to 
less than 11,000 per annum.3 

^ Natu7-al and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality, 4th 
Impression, Oxford, 1665, pp. 81-84 (ch. vii) : "The next Observation is, That 
in the said Bills there are far more Burials than Christenings. This is plain, de- 
pending only upon arithmetical computation, for in 40 years, from the year 1 603 
to the year 1644, exclusive of both years, there have been set down (as hapning 
within the same ground, space or Parishes, although differently numbered and 

divided), 363,935 Burials and but 330,747 Christenings From this single 

Observation it will follow. That London should have decreased in its people; the 
contrary whereof we see by its daily increase of Buildings upon new Foundations, 
and by the turning of great palacious Houses into small Tenements. It is there- 
fore certain that London is supplied with people from out of the country, whereby 
not only to supply the overplus or difference of Burials above-mentioned, but like- 
wise to increase its Inhabitants, according to the said increase of housing." 

London's growth might also be seen in the increasing number of christenings 
(p. 72 : " The Decrease and Increase of People is to be reckoned chiefly by Christ- 
enings, because few bear Children in London but Inhabitants, the others die 
there.") Graunt's table of christenings in London (pp. 1 74-5) shows the fol- 
lowing increase : 

1604-1 1 52,190 

161 2-19 60,316 

1620-27 62,124 

1628-35 75»774 

1636-43 80,443 

London's population increased in the ratio from 2 to 5 in 54 years, while it 
took a typical rural district 200 years to double its population (p. 143). 
^Ibid., 131 ff. 

'In 1580 there were said to be 5,060 foreigners resident in London, which then 
had a population of about 150,000 — a larger proportion than now obtains of 
foreigners and colonials together. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



233 



The reason why the stream of emigration did not make the 
cities grow so rapidly in former centuries as in the nineteenth 
is the excessively high death-rate then prevalent. Not only 
did poor sanitation exact a heavy tribute from the infantile 
population year in and year out, but it also favored periodi- 
cal visitations of the plague, which naturally wrought fearful 
havoc. Hence the difificulty of ascertaining a regular, uni- 
form rate of death or migration. It appears that while 
migration to the cities was large, it did little more than fill 
the vacant places caused by death. And Captain Graunt 
was probably right in saying that no matter how great the 
number of deaths caused by the plague, the city would 
be quickly re-peopled ; the influx of strangers would in the 
second year fill all the vacant places.^ 

But economy in the organization of industry has steadily 
demanded an increase in the number of city dwellers, and 
the cities have thus been able to absorb the migrants from 
the rural districts at the same time that they have found use 
for the net increases of their own populations, which have 
grown to large proportions as a result of the decline of 
death rates. Thus, statistics show that the migration into 
Berlin is now but slightly larger than it was in the first half 
of the century ; but Berlin is now growing about twice as 
rapidly as it was then. That is because the excess of births 
over deaths is now large,^ whereas in earlier times it was 

' Ibid., p. 75 : " The next Observation we shall offer is the time wherein the 
City hath been Re-peopled after a great Plague; which we affirm to be by the 
second year. For in 1627, the Christenings (which are our standard in this case) 
were 8,408, which in 1624, next preceding the Plague-year 1625 (that had swept 
away above 54,000), were but 8,299; and the Christenings of 1626 (which were 
but 6,701) mounted in one year to the said 8,408, Now the Cause hereof, for- 
as-much as it cannot be a supply by Procreations; Ergo it must be by new 
Affluxes to London out of the Country." 

^The following data were compiled by Kuczynski, Zug nach der Stadt, p. 252, 
and indicate the annual increase as a percentage of the mean population : 



234 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



very small or else vanished into an absolute deficiency of 
births. 

It would make an interesting piece of investigation to 
trace the diminution of the city death rate from the sixteenth 
to the nineteenth centuries, as set forth in the works of 
Graunt's successors, Petty, Halley, Siissmilch, Deparcieux, 
and Wappaus. But it might be tedious for the reader, and 
is at any rate unnecessary for present purposes. A few ex- 
amples will suffice to show the general tendency. 

A German student who investigated the church record of 
baptisms and burials in several German cities came to the 
conclusion that on the average there were 80 or 90 births to 
100 deaths in the period 15 50-1 750. In the last fifty years 
(1700-50) of this period the number of births fluctuated 
between 66 and 96;'' but in 1877-82 the ratio of births to 

Excess of births. Net Total 

Number. Percentage. Immigration. Increase. 

I711-1815 — 31,310 — 0.2 1.4 I.I 

1816-37 23,505 0.5 1.3 1.8 

1838-58 55>5i3 0.7 1.6 2.3 

1858-75 95.460 0.8 3.2 4.0 

1875-95 289,240 I.I 1.6 2.7 

The period just previous to the Franco-Prussian war includes the heaviest mi- 
gration to Berlin. (^Supra, Table XLV.) This period was exceptional, and as 
appears from the foregoing percentages of net immigration, the present move- 
ment toward Berlin is not greatly in excess of that in the earlier periods of the 
century. And the statistics of Fremdgeborenen in Berlin do not indicate that the 
percentage of outsiders is now perceptibly larger than it was in 1875 : 

Bom outside Berlin, to 
each 1,000 inhabitants. 

1864 520.9 

1871 563.7 

1875 586.6 

1880 566.3 

1885 576.0 

1890 593.0 

Kuczynski also shows (pp. 262-270) that the age-grouping of the Berlin pop- 
ulation nas not greatly changed since the beginning of the century, indicating 
that a large immigration then as now filled the middle age periods. 

' J. Wernicke, Das Verhdltniss zwiscken Geborenen und Gestorbenen in histor- 
ischer Entwicklung (Conrad's series of dissertations) , pp. 57, 90. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



235 



deaths in 173 German cities was 147 to 100. Sir William 
Petty, writing in 1681, estimated the ratio of births to deaths 
in London at 5 : 8 or62j4 to 100, while in all England he 
said it was 125 : 100.^ 

Now the date at which the cities succeeded in turning the 
excess of deaths into an excess of births naturally varies 
according to country and circumstance. The very stream 
of immigration which was to maintain the population of a 
city was one circumstance ; for it brought strangers born 
outside the city to die in the city. Graunt noticed it but 
casually, saying that the 6,000 strangers who annually came 
to London added 200 to the burials every year. Edmund 
Halley was the first to emphasize the influence of immigra- 
tion upon the death rate in the cities : " Both London and 
Dublin by reason of the great and casual accession of stran- 
gers who die therein (as appeared in both, by the great 
excess of the funerals above the births) rendered them inca- 
pable of being standards for this purpose, which requires 
if it were possible, that the people we treat of should not at 
all be changed, but die where they were born, without any 
adventitious increase from abroad or decay by migration 
elsewhere."^ In Breslau, with its small migratory move- 
ment, Halley found a small surplus of births over deaths. 

The disturbing effect of migration upon the relation be- 
tween births and deaths, thus first emphasized by Halley, has 
been discussed by all subsequent writers without exhausting 
the subject. Deparcieux demonstrated that while migration 
into the city might increase the number of deaths as com- 
pared with the number of births, it diminished the ratio of 

^ Several Essays in Political Arithmetic, 4th ed., London, 1755, p. 36: "Ob- 
servations upon the Dublin Bills of Mortality," 1681. 

^ Philosophioal Tra7isactions of the Royal Society, vol. xvii, for the year 1693, 
No. 196 : E. Halley, " An estimate of the degrees of mortality of mankind, drawn 
from curious tables of the births and funerals at the city of Breslau; with an 
attempt to ascertain the price of annuities upon lives." 



236 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



deaths to the living, since the migrants were persons in the 
active, healthful years of life, with a death rate lower than the 
average.^ Hence as respects France the death rate was 
found more favorable in Paris than in the small towns ; but 
one reason why Paris was the first great city to establish a 
clear preponderance of births over deaths was the French 
practice of sending infants to the coutry to be nursed. 
Their births were recorded in Paris ; their deaths in the 
country. 

While Paris could show a small natural increase in the 
eighteenth century,^' London did not succeed in doing so 
until the beginning of the nineteenth ; a result achieved more 
by the diminution of deaths than by the increase of births.3 
Berlin first attained a similar permanent status after iSiOj-^ 

^ Essai sur les probabilitiis de la durie de la vie htimaine ; d'ott I'on dedtiit la 
mani^re de determiner les rentes viagh-es tant simples qu' en tontines, Paris, 1746. 

* The annual average number of births in excess of deaths in Paris (according 
to Levasseur, ii, 395) was: 

1750-59 323 

1 780-89 27 

1799-1808 —668 

1809-16 373 

1817-30 3,177 

^ The data for London are as follows, the capital letter " P " designating the 
visitation of the plague or an epidemic (^Encycl. Brit., Art. " London ") : 

Year. Deaths. Births. Excess of deaths. 

1593 17.844 4.021 13,823 

1603 42,042? 4,789 37.253 

1625 54.265 P 6,783 47.482 

1636 22,359 9,522 13,837 

1665 97.306 P 9.967 87,339 

(Annual average.) 

I700-1710 21,461 15,623 5,838 

174O-175O 25,352 14,457 10,895 

1790-1800 24,270 22,605 1.665 

' The excess of deaths over births in Berlin fluctuated very considerably, and at 

times yielded to an excess of births (Kuczynski, 252; see also supra, foot-note 
p. 234) : 

1709 428 1770 —10,372 

1720 +512 1780 — 2,708 

1730 —3,581 1790 +2,793 

1747 —447 1800 —7.089 

1755 .....—12,334 1810 +1,296 

1763 +592 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 237 

while Leipzig reached that point in 1821-30, and Frank- 
fort in 1840/ But the clearest picture of the whole move- 
ment is furnished by the statistics of Sweden,'' where scien- 
tific carefulness and accuracy were early devoted by the 
government to the collection of population statistics : 

Table CXVI. 

Births per 1,000 population: 

1816-40. 1841-50. 1851-60. 1861-70. 1871-80. i88i-go. 

Rural population 33-34 3i-3o 32.82 31.20 30.21 28.65 

Urban population 3o-95 29.29 32.53 32.95 32.13 31-07 

Stockholm 33.03 32.59 35.49 34.56 31.75 32.39 

Other cities 30.11 28.07 3^-5° 32-38 32.25 30.59 

Deaths per 1,000 population: 

Rural population 22.26 iQ-70 20.57 i9-33 17-32 16.36 

Urban population 34-44 28.73 31.20 26.17 24.05 19-74 

Stockholm 45-09 38.11 41-51 32-25 30.28 22.60 

Other cities 30.10 25.24 27.60 24.01 21.96 18.71 

Natural increase per 1,000 population: 

Rural population 11.08 11.60 12.25 11.87 12.89 12.29 

Urban population — 3.49 0.56 1.33 6.78 8.08 11.33 

Cities of less than 10,000 7.1 7.7 9.7 

Cities over 10,000 pop 6.7 8.2 ii.g 

Stockholm — 12.06 — 5.52 ^-6.02 2.31 1.47 9.79 

Other cities 9.3 12.0 13.2 

Cities without Stockholm o.oi 2.83 3.90 8.37 10.29 11.88 

Gain or loss ( — ) by migration per 1,000 population: 

Rural population — 1.45 — 1.67 — 3.22 — 6.19 — 6.35 — 12.03 

Urban population 12.62 14.12 20.28 14-49 16.32 14.89 

Cities under 10,000 pop 6.7 13.7 7.1 

Cities over 10,000 17.9 17.4 17.9 

Stockholm 17-70 15-61 25.49 ^5-99 19.66 26.95 

_ Other cities 19.2 i6.t 12.6 

Cities without Stockholm 10.55 13-56 18.45 12.95 15.21 10.55 

Total increase per 1,000 population: 

Rural population 9.63 9.93 9.03 5.68 8.54 0.26 

Urban population 9.13 14.68 21.61 21.27 24.40 26.22 

Cities under 10,000 13.8 21.4 16.8 

Cities over 10,000 .... .... 24.6 25.6 29.8 

Stockholm 5.64 10.09 i9-47 18.30 21.13 36-74 

__ Other cities 28.5 28.1 25.8 

Cities without Stockholm 10.56 16.39 22.35 22.32 25.50 22.43 

' Bleicher, p. 239. It is worth noting that in Frankfort, a city of fairs, there 
was usually an excess of births in the citizen class : 

Aggregate excess of births (+) or deaths ( — ) : 

Frankfort. Leipzig. 
Entire pop. Resident class. 

165I-1700 —1,056 +3.521 —55638 

1701-1750 —6,059 +1,259 —9.310 

1751-1800 —11,975 —2,224 —19.687 

1801-1840 — 691 +1,513 — 2,452 

1841-1890 -f 29,266 +43.153 

' Supplement to the census of 1890, Befolkningsstatistik, new series, xxxii. No. i : 
Bihang till Statistika, Centralbyraus Befolkningsstaiistik for Ar i8go, Folks- 
mdngdens Fordndringer Sverige Aren i88i-go, yenie Ofversigter for Aren 
i8i6-go (Stockholm, 1892), pp. ii-vii, etc. 



238 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The percentages of total increase show how the urban 
population has been growing ever faster and faster, while 
the rural growth falls off. The urban population is, more- 
over, tending to be absorbed in Stockholm. But the per- 
centages of gain or loss through migration do not indi- 
cate that the more rapid growth of Swedish cities is due to 
immigration. Emigration from the rural districts has indeed 
increased, but much of it has been directed to foreign 
countries ; the net immigration to the cities has diminished 
since 1851-60. Even in Stockholm the immigration for 
1881-90 barely exceeds the percentage of 1851-60. The 
real explanation of city growth is therefore to be found in 
the percentages of natural increase. In the first period, 
1816-40, the per mille of loss {i. e., excess of deaths over 
births) was 3.49; in the succeeding decade this was turned 
into a positive gain of 0.56 per 1,000, which has steadily in- 
creased in the following periods until it reached 11.33 per 
mille in 1881-90, or almost as much as the rural natural in- 
crease. The tendency is even more marked in Stockholm, 
where a deficit of 12.06 per mille has finally been turned 
into an excess of 9.79. 

Further analysis shows that the birth-rate is higher in the 
urban than in the rural communities; although the differ- 
ence is not so great as in the case of the death-rates. But 
the difference between the urban and rural death-rates is 
now only 3.4 per mille, whereas in the period 1816-40 it 
averaged 12.2, and in the case of Stockholm nearly reached 
23 per 1,000. Stockholm's death-rate of 45.1 per mille in 
1816-40 was not an exceptional rate for cities in that period ; 
and great alteration for the better is typical of modern cities. 
This is the real explanation of the manner of city growth. 

The point of self-maintenance, which was reached in Paris 
before the close of the eighteenth century, in London in 
1800, in the German cities in the first half of the present 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



239 



century, in Stockholm after i860, has not yet been univer- 
sally attained even in civilized Europe. In 1877 Dr. Dunant 
presented a paper' to the International Congress of Medical 
Science at Geneva in which he showed that of 30 great 
cities of Europe, 23 owed more than one-half their growth 
to immigration, and that seven ^ of these without it would 
have decreased. They were mostly Italian cities, but more 
recent statistics^ show that six of twelve great cities of 
France are also subject to an excess of deaths. On the 
other hand, a considerable number of English cities are 
losing more by emigration than they gain by immigration ; 
although as will appear hereafter the emigration is in large 
part directed toward the suburbs. The following list of the 
larger European cities {i. e. those having a mean population 
of at least 200,000 in 1 880-1 890 or 1881-1891) shows the 
proportion which immigration (or emigration) bears to the 
total increase per 1,000:* 

Immigration. 

Marseilles I>i83 Amsterdam 502 

Lyons 1,115 Copenhagen 492 

Bordeaux 1,060 Brussels 489 

Rome 893 Vienna 410 

Turin 881 Leeds 300 

Buda-Pest 867 Birmingham 257 

Milan 830 Naples 257 

Munich 822 Edinburgh 94 

Stockholm 734 Palermo 30 

Paris 723 

Manchester 717 Emigration. 

Breslau 715 Sheffield 4 

Prague 700 Dublin 1 20 

Berlin 697 Bristol 785 

Hamburg 690 London 1,289 

Belfast 654 Liverpool (decrease) 2,481 

Dresden 588 

^ Injluence de r £tuigraiion de la Population des Campagnes dans les Villes ; 
published also in Annates de Dtmograpkie Internationale, vol. i. The important 
results are restated by Levasseur (ii, 386), and illustrated with a diagram. 

^ Milan, St. Petersburg, Venice, Odessa, Prague, Rome, Naples. 

* Cf. Statistisches yahrbuch der Stadt Berlin for 1892, xix, 94-5 : " Movement 
of population in 88 European cities for ten years." 

* Ibid. The Italian figures are of slight value, because their population is esti- 
mated, no census having been taken since 1881. 



240 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



According to these figures, immigration would seem to 
play the largest role in the growth of the French and Italian 
cities, then in the German, the Scandinavian, and finally the 
English cities. The explanation lies in the fact that the 
English cities have a lower death-rate than the Italian and a 
higher birth-rate than the French ; in either case they have 
a larger excess of births over deaths, and derive a corre- 
spondingly smaller fraction of their growth from immigra- 
tion. The following table covers several decades and takes 
into account annexations of territory as well as natural in- 
crease and net immigration : ^ 

Table CXVII. 

Percentage of total increase due to 







Excess of Net immi- 


Incorporation 






births. gration. 


of suburbs. 


London, 


1852-91 . . . 


. 84.03 15.97 




Copenhagen, 


1801-90... 


• 42.98 57-02 




Cologne, 


1821-90... 


34.10 28.48 


3742 


Berlin, 


1801-90... 


26.72 




Vienna, 


1801-90.. . 


20.52 32.48 


47.00 


Leipzig, 


1801-90... 


16.42 39.70 


43-88 


Paris, 


1821-90.. . 


15,23 64.21 


20.56 


Breslau, 


1821-90... 


15.16 79.21 


5-63 


Munich, 


1811-90... 


10.59 72.26 


17-15 


St. Petersburg, 


, 1801-90... 


. —26.81 (deficit.) 





The fact that London's percentage of growth due to 
natural increase is so large arises partly from the fact that 
no changes of area are made, and partly from the fact that 
the data are comparatively recent; but after all, the real 
reason is London's precedence in the making of sanitary im- 
provements. 

From the data concerning 88 European cities which Pro- 
fessor Boeckh publishes in the Berlin municipal Jahrbuch, 
he draws the conclusion that migration is a wider movement 

^ Sedlaczek, " Die Bevolkerungszunahme der Grossstadte im XIX Jahrhundert 
und deren Ursachen," in Proceedings of Eighth International Congress of Hygiene 
and Demography at Budapest (1894), vii, 380. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



241 



than the natural movement of births and deaths ; for in the 
former case the percentages range between +28.6 and — 16, 
and in the latter case between +19.1 and — 4.6/ As Table 
CXVII demonstrates, Professor Boeckh is entirely safe in 
concluding that fully one-half of the increase of population 
in the large cities is to be attributed to migration.^ 

In the United States, accurate vital statistics are too 
scanty to permit wide generalizations. Moreover, frequent 
suburban annexations, which are not always mentioned in 
the census reports, complicate matters. But if Boston be 
regarded as a typical American city, investigation shows that 
about one-half of the increase in population between 1865 and 
1890 was due to immigration, three- tenths to annexations 
and two-tenths to natural growth, which is thus seen to play 
a subordinate part in the increase of Boston's population.* 
Statistics are also available which allow a comparison to be 
made of the natural increase in urban and rural communities 
in Massachusetts ; the urban population is here represented 
by the 28 incorporated cities, and the following data are 
averages for the five census years 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885, 
and 1890:3 

Birth-rate. 

Cities 28.4 

Rural remainder 22.0 

'^ Op. cit., vii, 392 and 384: " Der Antheil der ortlichen Bewegung an der 
Zunahme der Bevolkerung der Grossstadte." 

^ Cf. Mass, Census of i8gS, i, 220, and Forty-ninth Registration Report (1890), 
p. 156: 

Population of Boston in 1865 192,318 

" " Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, West 

Roxbury, Brighton in 1865 76,288 

Births minus deaths (245,958—194,890) in 1865-90 51,068 

(Add for net immigration in 1865-90 128,803) 

Population of Boston in 1890 448,477 

' Registration Report as above, p. 372. 





Rate ol 


Death-rate. 


natural increase. 


21.4 


7.0 


17-5 


4-5 



242 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



It is significant that the cities, instead of being the " de- 
stroyers of mankind," now produce a larger surplus of births 
than do the country districts. This result is due to a high 
city birth rate, as the urban death rate in Massachusetts still 
remains considerably above the rural death rate. Massa- 
chusetts may be taken as a typical state of the manufacturing 
East; in fact, entire New England is even more favorable than 
Massachusetts to the urban rate of natural increase."^ Re- 
garding the role of immigration in the growth of Massachu- 
setts cities, it may be noted that the increase of population 
in the ten years 1885-95 on the territory of the present 32 
incorporated cities was 38.05 per cent., or about 38 per 1,000 
for one year;^ but as was just indicated, the natural increase 
in the Massachusetts cities is only about 7 per 1,000 annually. 

The value of these Massachusetts statistics is considera- 
ble, especially as they have been confirmed by computations 
showing the refined birth rates; 3 for Massachusetts is the 

^ The Sumt/iary of Vital Statistics of the Aew England States, iox 1892 (p. 56), 

gives the following figures : 

Population, 1892. Birth-rate. Death-rate. 

Urban group (towns of io,ooo-f ) • •• 2,441,418 est. 29.68 21.01 

Rural group (towns of I o,coo — ) ... 2.444,987 est. 2C.oo 18.72 

The natural increase is thus 8.67 and 1.28 per wzV/? for the urban and rural 
populations respectively. 

■'' Mass. Census of i8gS, i, 49. 

•^See Dr. Crum's article in the Quar. Jour, of Econ., xii, 259, and one of his 
tables reprinted below (No. CXLV.) . While his figures are based upon density 
of population, it will be shown that the grouping by density corresponds closely 
to grouping according to the populousness of cities. With Dr. Crum's figures may 
be compared the birth and death rates and rate of natural increase in Massa- 
chusetts towns in 1890 (^Registration Report, as above, p. 374) : 

Number of Population of Birth Death Rate of 

towns. the groups. rate. rate. natural increase. 

95 Under 1,000 15.5 17.5 — 2.0 

84 1,000- 2,000 16.1 18.1 — 2.0 

48 2,000- 3,000 19.0 18.7 0.3 

22 3,000-4,000 21.6 17.I 4.5 

30 4,000- 5,000 21.6 18.0 3.6 

35 5,000-10,000 24.7 17.1 7.6 

17 10,000-20,000 27.4 17.9 9.5 

r. [from 25.7 17.0 5.8 

20 Over 20,000 <^ . J'' ', ,^ „ 

' (,to 34.4 22.5 12.2 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 243 

leading industrial commonwealth of this country, and the 
type of that organization which seems destined to prevail 
more and more with the passage of years. It denotes the 
fact that the cities are no longer mere consumers of popula- 
tion produced in the rural districts, but will contribute their 
full share to the increase of population. 

In Europe the urban population as a whole still has a 
smaller natural increase than the rural population, but the 
difiference is not so great as in the case of the great cities. 
The Swedish statistics given in Table CXVI may be again 
referred to. It may be concluded that while the urban pop- 
ulation has a lower death rate in Europe than in America, its 
birth rate is in comparison still lower. In England the nat- 
ural increase in town and country is almost precisely the 
same;^ hence the more rapid growth of the towns is due to 
migration. The relation which this immigration has borne to 
the natural increase may be seen in the following figures,'' 
based on the assumption of a uniform natural increase 
throughout all categories of population, and showing the 



* Cf. the following figures given by Charles Booth (" On Occupations of the Peo- 
ple, 1801-81," in Jour, of Stat. Soc, 1886, p. 329) : 

Birth-rate. Death-rate. Nat. increase. 

London and 19 chief towns 37-21 

Fifty large towns 36.79 

Small towns 37-67 

Urban population 37-12 22.09 14-03 

Rural population 33-13 19.00 I4-I3 

Cf. also Longstaff, Studies in Statistics, p. 25, whence the natural increase for 
1871-81 per 1,000 population in 1871 may be deduced as follows: 

London 13.9 

19 large cities 14.2 

56 other cities 16.8 

Total 76 cities 15.0 

England and Wales 15.0 

^Sir Rawson W. Rawson, in your, of Stat. Soc, 1880, p. 501. Dr. Longstaff, 
op. cit., p. 24, prints an interesting table which shows the daily increase, daily 



244 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



percentage of gain or loss by migration in each decade, as 
well as the proportion which the migration bears to the total 
increase (or decrease) : 



Table CXVIII. 





Gain or loss (— 


-) by migration 




Ratio of net immigration 












to total 


increase. 






Other large 


Small 


Rural 




Other large 


Decade. 


London. 


towns. 


towns. 


districts. 


London. 


towns. 


180I-H 


... 4,46 


6.00 


— 1.20 


— 2.19 


23.8 


29.7 


181I-2I 


. . . 3.02 


8.61 


+0.94 


—3-32 


14.6 


32.3 


I 82 1-3 I 


... 4.21 


14.23 


— C.83 


—5-29 


21.0 


47-4 


183I-4I 


••• 3-25 


12.00 


— 2.02 


—4-79 


18.3 


45-3 


I 841-5 I 


... 8.5s 


12.12 


—2.18 


—6.80 


40.2 


48.8 


185 1-6 I 


... 6.75 


7-77 


—4.64 


—4.64 


36.2 


39-4 


1861-71 


... 2.78 


7.72 


— 2. 1 1 


-4-83 


17.4 


36.8 



These figures apparently indicate that the influx into 
London reached its height about 1850, as indeed did the 
migratory movement cityward in general. Since then 
London's gain by migration has diminished, and in 188 1-9 1 
turned into an actual loss, its natural increase being 12.71 
per 1,000 and the actual total increase only 9.86. It is only 
fair to remark, however, that part of the emigration from 
London is simply into the suburbs. 

In Germany, too, migration cityward can hardly be said 



destination, and daily migrants per i,coo, in several categories of population in 

England and Wales : 

Population Daily Daily Daily 

in 1 87 1. increase. destination, immigrants. 

London 143 133 165 +32 

19 large cities 142 135 156 -|-2i 

56 other cities 127 140 199 +59 

Remainder of country 588 592 437 — 155 

Foreign countries ••• 43 ' +43 



I, coo 



I, ceo 



1,000 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 245 

to be increasing, while the urban rate of natural increase on 
the whole approaches that for the entire country:^ 

Table CXIX. 

Twenty-five great cities of Germany. Prussia. 

Natural Net immi- Total Natural 

increase. gration. increase. increase. 

Jt86i-64 8,3 27.4 35.7 14.3 

1864-67 4.3 1 7.7 22.0 10.9 

1867-71 6.1 22.1 28.2 9.5 

1871-75 10.4 21.7 32.1 12.3 

1875-80 12.6 12.7 25.3 13.8 

1880-85 9.9 14.3 24.2 12.0 

In France the cities, considered in the aggregate, have 
virtually ceased to grow of themselves, but rely upon im- 
migrants from the rural districts for recruiting their popula- 
tion, which, as we saw in the first chapter, is by no means at 
a stand-still. The following data relate to the urban popu- 
lation of France:'' 

Table CXX. 

Aggregate numbers. Percentages. 

Total Excess of Net immi- Natural Immigra- 

increase. births. gration. increase. tion. 

1861-65 805,582 141,350 664,232 17. 83. 

1872-76 742,497 117,667 624,830 16. 84. 

1876-81 1,119,146 38,480 1,080,666 3. 97. 

1881-86 669,966 43,665 626,301 6, 94. 

1886-91 544,784 — 1,129* 54S>9i3 — 0'2* 100.2 

1872-91 3.076,393 198,812 2,877,710 6. 94. 

It thus appears that in France the percentage of the 
growth of cities due to their natural increase has diminished 
since 1861 until in the last period there was an actual defi- 
ciency. Migration into the cities, although not increasing 
in absolute numbers, has assumed relatively greater prom- 

^ Allg, Stat. Archiv.y i, 167. 

'^ Resultats siatistiques dii denombretnent de i8gi, p. 72; and other census 
reports. 

•' Excess of deaths. * Decrease. 



246 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

inence. The statistics of 1876-81 may be further analyzed 
to show the movement of population in cities of different 
size. Without giving the actual numbers, the percentages 
may be reported as follows:^ 

Natural increase. Immigration. 

Paris 8.3 91.7 

47 cities (pop. of 30,000-}-) 2.5 97.5 

All cities except Paris 1.8 98.2 

Total urban i 3.4 96.6 

From this it appears that the deficit is due not so much 
to Paris and the larger cities, as to the smaller cities. But 
such statistics are not absolutely conclusive. 

In Austria the natural movement of population in the 
cities contributes more largely to their growth than in 
France. Thus, of the total gain, in 1880-90, of 193,341 in 
the eight larger cities (50,000-1-), 79,395 or 41. i per cent, 
came from the excess of births over deaths.^ 

In Hungary the natural increase constituted 32 per cent, 
of the total increase, 1880-90, both in the seven large cities 
(50,000+) and in the 25 free cfties.3 

The results thus show the greatest diversity. In France 
the cities do not sustain themselves, nor do many of the 
Italian cities. In Germany, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, etc., 
the cities furnish from one-fourth to one- half of their in- 
crease according to size. But in Great Britain immigration 
has so diminished that even the largest cities provide three- 
fourths and often more of their increase. In the United 
States, where the cities now show a larger natural increase 
than do the rural districts, there is still a vast immigration, 
four or five times as large as the natural increase. 

^ M. Loua, in yotirnil de la Societe Statistique de Paris (March, 1885) 
xxvi, 124. 

^ Calculated from data in Stat. Monat., xviii, 234-46. 

^ Calculated from data in the Hungarian census of 1890, pp. 55-57*. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



247 



The method here used is liable to grave inaccuracies, since 
it assumes that the original population of a city is not going 
and coming, and that a resident population is alone respon- 
sible for the births and deaths. Now between any two 
points of time for which the natural increase is computed, 
the deaths registered may be affected by the emigration or 
immigration of particular classes, say of old people. If old 
people come to the city to spend their last days, it is evi- 
dent that the number of deaths will be artificially increased, 
and vice versa when old people emigrate from the city. In 
the latter case we should have too few deaths, which would 
make the natural increase larger than it actually is and the 
immigration correspondingly smaller. Similarly, the num- 
ber of births may be affected in two ways : ( i ) it may be 
increased by the registration of children born in the city 
and removed before the census has been taken, or (2) by 
the birth of children to women who have moved to the city 
within the period under consideration. In either case the 
result would be the same, the city would appear to grow by 
reason of surplus of births, whereas it might be supported 
entirely by immigration.^ All these objections, however, 
are of theoretical rather than practical importance in any 
investigation of tendencies ; they are not of sufficient force 
in reality to invalidate conclusions based on comprehensive 
data such as those presented in the present chapter. 

Another method of approaching the question of city- 
growth is by means of statistics of birth-place. If, for 
example, 38.5 per cent, of the population of Boston were 
born there and 62.9 per cent, of London's population 
were native Londoners, it may be inferred that, other things 
being equal, Boston is receiving a proportionately larger 



^ This is substantially the argument of Ballod, Die Lebensfdhigkeii dcr stddt- 
ischen tind Idndlichen Bevolkening (1897). 



248 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



immigration than London.' Hence for the study of internal 
migration the statistics of birth-place have a real value and 
will repay careful analysis.^ 

The vast dimensions of internal migration are often lost 
sight of in the contemplation of the horde of emigrants who 
go to foreign countries, though we in the United States, who 
have seen these shiftings of the native American population, 
are not so likely to fall into mistaken comparisons as are 
European students, whose attention is attracted to the loss 
of millions of their fellow citizens by trans-Atlantic migra- 
tion. In England, in 1891, 25 per cent, of the native born 
inhabitants were no longer residing in their native county, 
amounting in round numbers to 7,000,000 souls ; whereas 
the number of Englishmen residing in the United States in 
1 890 was only 900,000. 

The following table, based chiefly on the official sources, 

^ The assumption here made of " other things being equal " should be carefully 
noted. Circumstances may be conceived in which the conclusion would not fol- 
low. Suppose, for instance, that cities A and B are of the same size {e. g., i,ooo,- 
000 inhabitants), and have the same annual increase, say 50,000, of which 25,000 
represents the excess of immigration over emigration, and 25,000 the surplus of 
births over deaths. Now it might occur that city A had no emigration at all, 
in which case 25,000 would represent the pure immigration, and the immigrants 
would, in the first year, constitute 2.5 per cent, of the population of city A. But 
city B, we will say, sends out 100,000 of its population to other communities, and 
receives an inflow of 125,000, the net immigration being as in town A, 25,000. 
But in city B 12.5 per cent, of the population would now be outsiders. Hence it 
might be concluded that London's large percentage of native Londoners is due 
not so much to a higher birth-rate and lower death-rate than Boston's, as to less 
emigration. Nor is it possible to ascertain the amount of emigration from the 
city. Though the English census may return the total number of the natives of 
London within the British Empire, it does not give the number who are living in 
France or America. 

^ In Germany they have a system of police registration of arrivals and depart- 
ures, and these Anmeldungen, as the notices are called, are sometimes used to 
study migration. But it is obvious that these data can be of little value, inas- 
much as they refer to cases of migration and not to the number of migrants. Cf. 
Bruckner's article in Allg, Stat. Archiv, vol. i. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



249 



exhibits the range of migration in several of the leading 
countries:' 









Table CXXI 










Percentage of the total populat 


on bom in 






Township 


Elsewhere 


County 


Elsewhere 


Foreign 




where 


in same 


where 


in same 


coun- 


Country. 


Date, enumerated. 


county.^ 


enumerated. 


country. 


tries.* 


Massachusetts, 


1885... 


. 36.1 





57-5 





42.5 


United States, 


1890 









66.86 


18.37 


14-77 


Saxony,'' 


1885 




• 50-07 


19.03 


69.1 


20.82 


10.08 


Prussia, 


1890 




• 53-9 


15-8 


69.7 


27.1 


3-2 


Eng. and Wales 


1 891 









71.6 


24-5 


3-9 


Denmark, 


1890 










77.88 


18.62 


3-5 


France, 


189I 




• 56.3 


25.0 


81.3 


16,4 


2-3 


Switzerland, 


1888 




• 56.4 


25-7 


82.1 


"-5 


6.4 


Austria, 


1890 




• 65.2 


15.0 


80.2 


18.1 


1-7 


Belgium, 


1890 




• 65.2 











2.8 


Netherlands, 


1889 




• 65.4 


21.6 


87.0 


II. 2 


1.8 


Norway, 


1875 




• 73.05 


14-15 


87.2 


10.7 


2.1 


Hungary, 


1890. 




• 73.6 


15.6 


89.2 


9-3 


1-5 


Sweden, 


1880 




• 79-9 


8.6 


88.5 


II. I 


0.4 



The table represents only the internal migration, not the 
migratory tendencies of the different peoples. The Swedes, 
from their position in the table, might be called a non- 

' Cf. Wirminghaus, " Stadt und Land," in Conrad's yahrbucher filr Naiional- 
oekonomie und Statistik, Ixiv, 1 61, and Ravenstein, "Laws of Migration," in 
your, of Stat. Soc. (1889), lii, 241. 

'In Saxony the birth place is given by towns or villages {Orte), since the 
township QGemeinde) is virtually identical with the town. 

^ The " county " or district stands for the following political divisions : Saxony, 
Amtshauptmannschaft -, United States, State or Territory; Prussia, Kreis; Den- 
mark, Overovrighedskredsene; France, Department; Switzerland, Canton; 
Austria, Bezirk; Netherland, the Province; Hungary, Comitat; Sweden and 
Norway, Lan. 

*The term "foreign countries" includes all States and federal commonwealths 
outside the State specified. Thus in the case of Massachusetts, it includes all 
other American States and Territories; similarly in the case of Saxony and 
Prussia, the other members of the German Empire. Of the 42.5 per cent, 
attributed to foreign countries in the case of Massachusetts, 15.3 per cent, were 
native Americans, and 27.2 foreigners in the usual sense of the word. 



250 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



migratory people, while we know that proportionate to their 
numbers they send more migrants to the United States than 
any other country in Europe exeept Ireland.^ There are 
some other considerations that prevent these figures being 
accepted as entirely trustworthy indications of the relative 
strength of migration. The size of the township often seri- 
ously affects the statistics of birth place ; if the towns are ter- 
ritorially large, a short-distance migration might effect no 
change of residence, whereas, in case of townships of smaller 
area, even a half mile journey might make the migrant a res- 
ident of some other town. A similar result would follow if 
the townships of one country were perfect squares or circles, 
while in another country they were very irregular in forma- 
tion ; or if some townships were bounded by natural barri- 
ers of mountains or water, rendering them more or less iso- 
lated. While these facts must make us realize the short- 
comings of such statistics as are given in Table CXXI, they 
do not invalidate the table. While the fact that the Prussian 
township is very small in area compared with the others may 
partly account for its large inter-town migration ; and while 
in Saxony the primary unit is not the township but the vil- 
lage or compact dwelling centre, the fact remains that in 
Massachusetts, which has the largest inter-town migration 
of all, the township is several times larger than any of the 
European townships.^ This is true even if we exclude the for- 
eign-born element entirely ; for the percentage of native Mas- 
sachusetts people born in the township where enumerated 
is only 49.4. This brings out the fact of the superior mobility 
of Americans, which has long been familiar to us in a general 
way. Indeed, it appears from the table that Americans are 
more accustomed to migrate from State to State than are 
Europeans from county to county. The English are appar- 
ently the most mobile people of Europe, as regards internal 

^ Supra, p. 152. ■* Supra, p. 142. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



251 



migration at least; and yet the percentage of native English- 
men living outside their county of birth was in 1871 almost 
exactly equal to the percentage of native Americans living 
outside the State in which they were born — the percentages 
being 25.96 and 26.2 (1870) respectively. 

Within the last quarter of a century, however, internal 
migration in the United States has declined. Professor Will- 
cox has shown that interstate migration in the United States 
reached its maximum in 1860-70; in only three States, in- 
deed, (Maine, Indiana, lUinois,) has the maximum migra- 
tion occurred in a later period. The data for intrastate mi- 
gration are less conclusive, but in the three States which 
afford such data the indications are all in the same 
direction.^ 

On the other hand conclusive evidence exists that internal 
migration is on the increase in Europe, though not neces- 
sarily the migration cityward. As the evidence in favor of 
this statement has never been presented in comprehensive 
form, to the writer's knowledge, the following percentages 
drawn from the official sources may be of interest; in 

^ Professor Willcox has computed the number of native New Yorkers hving in 
the United States in three State census years with the following result : 

Resident in 1855. 1865. 187^. 

County of birth 56.0 55.3 57.S 

Some other county of New York.. 19.9 17.8 16.0 

Some other State 24.2 26.5 26.2 

Thus the percentage of New Yorkers residing outside the county of birth was 
smaller in 1875 than in previous years. No later data are available in New York, 
the State census of 1892 having been a mere enumeration, but in Massachusetts 
there was a continued decline after 1875 : 

Natives of Massachusetts resident in 1875. 1885. 

Town of birth 48.61 51.00 

Some other town of Massachusetts 30.62 29.46 

Some other State 20.77 19.54 

In Rhode Island, also, the percentage of natives resident in town of birth in- 
creased more than the other categories. — "The Decrease of Interstate Migration," 
in Pol. Science Qnnr., x, 603-614. 



252 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



several of the countries the statistics of birth-place refer to a 
larger civil division than the township, such as the county or 
Department : 

Table CXXII. 



Percentages of the population residing in the native 
Department County in England Lan in 



in France. 



i860. 
1866. 
1870. 
1871. 
1876. 
1880. 
1881. 
1886. 
1890. 
1891. 



857 



84.0 
83.2 



and Wales.' 
74.04 

75-19 

74.86 
Table CXXIII. 



Sweden. 
92.8 

90.8 



District in 
Denmark.' 



83.15 



Percentages of the population born in the town where enumerated: 

Prussia. Austria.- Switzerland.^ Netherlands. Belgium. 



1846 
1849 
1850 
1856 
1859 
i860 
1866 
1869 

i?7o 
1871 
1879 
1880 
1885 
1888 
1889 
1890 



56.8 



57-6 
54.3 



534 



78.7 



69.7 



63-9 



64.0 

58.7 
54.0 

48.7 
45-9 



69.09 
68.90 
68.29 
67.22 

65.4 



70.2 



69.1 



69.4 



67.2 



65- 



In Ireland internal migration has on the whole increased, 

^ The percentages for England and Denmark are of the native, not of the total 
population. 

''■ In Austria and Sw^itzerland the figures express the percentage of population 
residing in the town of legal settlement. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 253 

although rather slowly. The following statistics of selected 
counties are given because they cover a longer period than 
do any of the more general British statistics : 

Percentage of population born and still residing, at census, in 

Dublin county. Leitrim county. Belfast county. 

1841 73.8 95.6 84.9 

1851 69.2 94.2 72.6 

1861 68.9 92.7 75.2 

1871 64.8 93.4 76.5 

1881... 62.6 93.5 77.3 

189I 62.7 92.8 76.9 

Of the larger countries named in the above tables, Prussia 
and Austria represent one extreme and England and France 
the other. In Austria internal migration has had a remark- 
able increase in the last twenty years. In Prussia the in- 
crease has been large since 1880; in the preceding decade 
mobility apparently decreased, but this was no doubt due in 
some measure to the displacement of population in 1871, the 
year of the war with France. Now Schumann has shown 
that interstate migration in Germany is chiefly in the direc- 
tion of the centres of industry and commerce, ' — a fact which 
gives us the explanation of increasing mobility of the Ger- 
mans, for no country in Europe has progressed so rapidly 
in manufacturing industry in the last quarter century as has 
Germany. In Austria, too, as Rauchberg has conclusively 
shown,"* the current of migration is toward the cities, and the 
reason that it has increased so much is the transformation of 
Austria from an agricultural to a manufacturing and com- 
mercial country, which is now taking place. In England 
and France, on the other hand, this transformation took 
place long years since, and for that reason we see no 
marked tendency toward the increase of migration at pres- 
ent. Switzerland apparently has an increasingly mobile 

^ " Die inneren Wanderungen in Deutschland," 'va.Allg. Stat. Archiv., i, 518-9. 
' In Statistische Monatschrifi, xviii, 230 and 562. 



254 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



population ; but the figures given, which refer to the place 
of settlement, are dependent upon the laws of settlement and 
cannot therefore be accepted without reserve/ Owing to 
their peculiar situation and composition, the Swiss cantons 
are particularly liable to a large foreign immigration,^ and 
do actually receive more immigrants than any other country 
in Europe.3 Such immigration of course affects the figures 
of Swiss mobility. In Scandinavia, Holland and Belgium 
the internal migration has increased slightly more than it 
has in France. On the whole, it may be said that in the 
last quarter of a century the tendency to migrate has in- 
creased in a direct ratio with the distance east from the 
settled manufacturing and commercial countries of Western 
Europe. Great mobility in the latter countries was attained 
some decades ago, and now the other nations are rapidly ap- 
proaching thereto. As we have seen in Table CXXI, Eng- 
land, Germany and France now lead the European nations 
as regards mobility, but the other countries of Western 
Europe are not far behind, while Northern and Eastern 
Europe are still bound to the old order of things with settled 
populations. It may be conjectured that at the present time 
the most rapid increase in migration would be found in 
Russia, which is now going over from the village economy 
to the national ; but we are without statistics to support the 
supposition. 

But while there are considerable differences among the 
countries as regards the inter-town migration, there is much 
less difference in the inter-county migration. In France, 
Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway and Hungary more than 
one-half of the migration is in fact within the department or 

^Thus the percentage of native town inhabitants was 63.8 in i860 and 56.4 in 
1888, showing a smaller increase in migration. 

" Switzerland is bounded by France, Germany, Austria and Italy, and her peo- 
ple are allied in race and language to all four nationalities. 

» See Table CXXI. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



255 



province. Even in countries with a large migration over 
county lines, it is to be presumed that short-distance migra- 
tion prevails. Thus, among the countries with the smallest 
percentage of the native county element is England, and 
even in England the larger portion of the internal migration 
is confined to neighboring counties.^ Since migration is as 
active in England as in any settled country, we may regard 
as well established the proposition that internal migration is 
predominantly of the short- distance character."^ 

What, now, is the cause of this short-distance migration? 
And how is it connected with the growth of cities and the 
concentration of population? Both of these questions can 
be answered with a few statistics. Let us first look at the 
constitution of the native population of the German Empire 
in December, 1890, according to place of birth. The free 
city of Hamburg contained 294,174 Germans born in other 
States of the Empire, while only 47,674 Hamburgers were 
found residing outside their native city. Hamburg had 
therefore gained by the migration 246,500 or 686.5 P^^ cent, 
of its native population. This was the largest gain made by 
any province of the Empire. The free city of Bremen was 
second with 400.7 per cent., then followed Brandenburg and 
Berlin 21 1.3 per cent., Alsace-Lorraine 93.7 per cent.. 
Saxony 59.7 per cent, Westphalia 33.9 per cent., Rhine 
provinces 30.8 per cent., Schleswig-Holstein and Liibeck 

'Of 1,000 migrants of English birth enumerated in the United Kingdom in 
1 881, 524 were found in border counties, 451 elsewhere in England and Wales, 
and 25 in Scotland and Ireland. Ravenstein, " The Laws of Migration," in Jou?-. 
of Stat. Soc, 1885, p. 182. 

^Dr. Schumann selected at random six rural townships in Oldenburg, and 
-found that over four-fifths of the migrants moved no further than two (German) 
miles. The percentage of immigrants whose birth-place was within two miles of 
their town of residence was 95.6, 60.1, 83.5, 78.2, 88.1, 80.2. Similarly, of all the 
natives who had changed their place of residence without going outside the grand 
duchy, 83, 90, 86, 84, 68, 70 per cent, had not moved farther than two miles. 
— .-illg. Slat. Arckiv, i, 509. 



256 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



15.4 per cent, and Baden 8.8 per cent. All other divisions 
of the Empire lost in the exchange of population.^ Now 
manufacturing industry in Germany is concentrated in the 
Rhine-Westphalian provinces, the kingdom of Saxony, the 
city of Berlin, and the acquired French territory of Alsace- 
Lorraine. It will be observed therefore that the districts 
which have gained through migration are distinctively the 
commercial and industrial centers of the Empire, with the 
single exception of Baden ; Brandenburg and Schleswig- 
Holstein being in close dependence on Berlin and Hamburg- 
Altona respectively. But one cause can explain internal 
migration in Germany, namely, the growth of the centres of 
commerce and industry, or in other words, of the great cities. 
The figures just given cover migration for an entire gen- 
eration ; in the more recent years migration has concen- 
trated itself upon still fewer districts. This may be ascer- 
tained by means of the births and deaths, as previously 
noticed. Thus, in the five-year period 1885-90, all of the 
provinces of Germany had an excess of births over deaths, 
but most of them lost a part of this excess through migra- 
tion, their total increase being less than their natural in- 
crease. The results of the movement are shown in 





Table CXXIV.« 

Excess of Increase in 
births. population. 


Gain or loss by migration. 

Ratio to exctss 
Total. of births. 


Group I ( East Prussia) 

" II (West Prussia and 
middle German states) .... 

Group III (South Ger. states) . 
" IV (Indust. centres) . . 


851,770 

611,538 
500,787 

937,688 


212,666 

531,089 

347,520 

1,480,191 


—639,104 

— 80,449 
— 153,267 
+ 542,503 


—75-04 

-13-15 
—30.61 

+ 57-86 


German Empire 


2,901,783 


2,571,446 


—330,317 


—11.38 



Group IV comprehends Berlin with a percentage of 
239.52, the district of Potsdam which encloses Berlin 140.54 
per cent., the Hanseatic towns (Hamburg, Bremen, and 

^ Vierteljahrshefie zur Statistik des Deutschen Reiches, 1893, Heft ii, p. 4. 
■'Cf. Schriften des Vereins fiir Socialpolitik, Ivi, 6. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



257 



Liibeck) 214.82 per cent, the kingdom of Saxony 33.28 per 
cent., the Rhine provinces 14.65 and Westphalia 20.75 P^'^ 
cent. Nothing could more clearly and emphatically show 
the relation between migration and the centres of commerce 
and industry than these figures from Germany. If it were 
needful, similar figures could be adduced for the other in 
dustrial countries.' 

Since, then, the current of migration is toward the cities 
and yet the bulk of migration is for short distances only, 
we can see the manner of the movement ; it is a migration 
by stages having for its object the satisfaction of the de- 
mands for more labor in the cities. These demands are not 
met by the direct migration of superfluous labor from the 
fields to the cities, but by the flocking in of the inhabitants 
immediately surrounding the town ; the gaps thus left in the 
rural populations are filled up by immigrants from more 
remote districts until the attractive force of a rapidly grow- 
ing city makes its influence felt, step by step, to the most 
remote corner of the country.^^ 

Thus, an analysis of London's provincial element shows 
that the emigration from the provinces decreases with the 
distance from London. In an essay on " Influx of Popula- 
tion," in Charles Booth's Life and Labor of the People (vol. iii, 
chaps. 2 and 3), Mr. H. Llewellyn Smith presents the fol- 
lowing comparison for six concentric rings : 3 

No. persons per i,ooo 
Average distance of pop. of each ring, Density of pop. per 

Ring. from London in miles, living in London, 1881. 1,000 acres. 

I 23.8 166.0 8CX) 

2 52.5 I2I.4 488 

3 90.9 61.2 540 

4 126.0 32.0 516 

5 175-7 16,2 800 

6 236.9 24.9 406 

' Ravenstein {Jour, of Stat. Soc, 1885, p. 185, ff) established similar conclu- 
sions for England. The " counties of dispersion " are entirely agricultural, while 
the " counties of absorption " embrace the centres of manufacturing and commerce. 

^ Ravenstein, ii>t(^., 199. 

^ The average distance of a ring of counties is taken to be the result of multi- 



258 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

This table clearly establishes the fact that London's pro- 
vincial population was contributed by the outside counties 
in proportion to their distance from London. It fully con- 
firms the opinion of Mr, Ravenstein that internal migration 
is of short-journey type. Distance is the controlling factor. 
The only exception to Ravenstein's rule is in the sixth ring, 
which includes the counties of Durham and Northumber- 
land, Cornwall, Pembroke and Cardigan, and four others. It 
is to be noted that these are maritime counties with direct 
communication to London. It represents the current of 
migration, consisting of those who seek a distinct economic 
advantage ; the bulk of migration, however, is a " drift" to- 
ward the great centres by successive stages. If emigrants 
do thus move by stages, settling at intermediate points for 
considerable periods in the interval, then we should expect 
to find the average ages of those coming from great distances 
to be greater than those whose birth-places are nearer the 
city. Mr. Smith has constructed the following table from 
the census returns of 1 881, the last year for which figures 
were available : 

Percentage of total migrants who were 
Rings (as before). Under 20 years of age. Over 20 years. 

I 22.4 77.6 

2 18.I 81.9 

3 16.8 83.2 

4 15-4 84.6 

5 I9-I 80.9 

6 15.9 84.1 

In general, the proportion of adults increases with the dis- 
tance from London until we reach the fifth ring, which in- 
cludes the manufacturing districts of the North — Yorkshire, 
Lancashire, etc. Still, too much weight should not be 
attributed to these figures, for it may be that the short-dis- 

plying the population of each county by the distance of its centre from London, 
adding the products and dividing by total population of the ring. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



259 



tance migration includes more families with children (which 
would reduce the average age) while the long-distance mi- 
gration might be equally direct, although consisting more of 
single young men between the age of 20 and 30. 

Again, with short-distance migration as the prevalent form, 
we should expect to find the native county element stronger 
in the great city than in the rural districts around it, while 
the border county element would be less strong in the city, 
having been, so to speak, deposited in the intervening rural 
parts of the county by the current toward the city. Raven- 
stein declares that this is the general rule in Great Britain. 
Forty-five out of 67 cities which he investigated recruit their 
population in the main from their own county, or in case of 
border towns, from two contiguous counties ; they contained 
a smaller percentage of migrants from outside their own 
county than did the intervening rural parts. ^ 

It is true, moreover, that with the development of railway 
communication the volume of direct and long-distance migra- 
tion to the city has increased ; men out of work will often 
migrate hundreds of miles in order to find work in their own 
trade, instead of remaining at or near home and changing 
their occupation. 

This exception to the rule that internal migration is chiefly 
a short-distance movement brings us to the second law of 
migration, namely, that the distance travelled by migrants 
varies in the same ratio as the magnitude of the city which 
is their destination. The larger the town, the wider its circle 
of influence in attracting immigrants; the small city acts as a 
magnet for the neighboring counties, a large city (ioo,ooo-t-) 
attracts strangers from other states or provinces, but only 
the great capitals exercise an international influence on 

' But in cases where a large city is situated in a relatively small county, or 
where the city is growing much more rapidly than the rest of the county, it must 
needs have a larger feeder, and hence draws immigrants from beyond the county. 
— Ravenstein, loc. cit., pp. 200-218. 



26o THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

migration. This fact is clearly established in the following 
statistics from the Austrian census of 1890, which show the 
birth-place of every 1,000 persons enumerated in the class of 
towns specified in the first column ; 

Table CXXV. ^ 

Another Another dis- Another pro- 
Dwelling-places. Town of town of trict of same vince of the Foreign 
{Ortscka/ten.) residence, same district.' province. kingdom. country. Total. 

Under 500 657 215 100 22 6 1,000 

500-2,000 735 149 85 23 8 1,000 

2,000-5,000. 699 132 119 36 14 1,000 

5,000-10,000.... 556 142 210 67 25 i,oco 

10,000-20,000... 464 122 310 77 27 1,000 

Over 20,000 ... 431 13 253 231 72 1,000 

Austria 652 150 128 53 17 1,000 

The table also illustrates a third law of migration, to which 
attention should be called, namely, that the percentage of 
immigrants increases in the same ratio as the magnitude of 
cities, but in inverse ratio with the magnitude of rural com- 
munities.3 Thus, in Austria, 27 per cent, of the population 
of villages of 500-2,000 are outsiders and 73 per cent, are 
natives of their town of residence ; but in the cities of 
20,000+ the respective percentages are 57 and 43. 

It seems somewhat singular that the native town element, 
which is weakest in the large cities and steadily increases in 
strength as the size of the town diminishes, should fall ofif so 
much in the very smallest towns, namely, those containing 
fewer than 500 inhabitants. Yet this is the fact to the best 

' Rauchberg, in S(ai. Monaisckriji, xix, 129. 

* The Bezirk or district, of which there are 359 in Austria, contains 323 square 
miles, and is thus less than half the size of a New York county (average 750 
square miles). 

•'' Georg von Mayr, who as chief of the Bavarian Bureau of Statistics, made the 
first thorough investigation in the field of internal migration in 1 871, is the author 
of this law. Cf. Heft XXXII dtr Beiirdge zur Statistik des Koiiigreichs 
Bayerns (Miinchen, 1876) : Die bayrische Bevolkerung nacJi dtr Gehiirtigkeit. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 26 1 

of the writer's knowledge in all the investigations thus far 
made — the Bavarian census of 1871, the 1880 census of 
the duchy of Oldenburg, 'and the Austrian census of 1890. 
One explanation of the fact may be that men living in the 
least populous places mustoftener seek their wives in a neigh- 
boring community, the range of choice in their own village 
being so small. The Austrian statistics, however, show that 
this happens more frequently in the villages of from 500 to 
1 ,000 inhabitants, where the native town element is strongest 
of all;^ thus the number of women to 1,000 men was 

Among those born 

In another town of 
Places. In Austria. In town of residence. same district. 

Under 500 pop 1.047 9^5 i>297 

500-1,000 " 1,049 1,001 1,373 

From which it follows that the large percentage of im- 
migrants in the smallest places is not a result of marriages 
contracted by male residents with women of a neighboring 
place. 

The more probable explanation is that the least populous 
communities are unable, with their own members, to carry 
out the division of labor to a sufficient extent, and are there- 
fore obliged to recruit their force from neighboring places. 
But the conditions in Austria and Germany are peculiar to 
a fast disappearing civilization, in that the places with less 

' The percentages of the native town element were as follows in the rural 

communes : 

Under 500 45-02 

500-1,000 62.65 

1,000-1,500 58.30 

1,500-2,000 59-57 

2,000-3,000 71-31 

3,000-4,000 77-i8 

4,000-5,000 79-42 

5,coo-f- • 70.60 

— Statistische Nachrichten ilber das Grossherzogtum Oldenburg^ Heft xix, p. 61. 

* Rauchberg, as above, xix, 130. 



262 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

than 500 population are usually manors. It is unfortunate 
that no data of this sort exist for countries without the 
manorial system. 

Von Mayr's law as stated above has never been success- 
fully disputed ^ and is confirmed by nearly all the statistics. 
Thus in Saxony the percentage constituted by the native 
element is as follows : 

Rural townships: 

Under 2,000 52.4 

Over 2,000 49.7 

Urban townships 48.0 

Dresden 39.4 

Leipzig 36.1 

For other countries the facts may be summarized thus : 

Table CXXVI. 
Percentage of population born in town of residence: 

Rural. Urban. Capital city. 

1. Prussia, 1890 53.9 43.8 

2. Sweden, 1880 92.0 67.8 41.3 

3. Denmark, 1890 86.77 75'i6 55-92 

4. Netherlands, 1889 68.34 64.54 

S.Belgium, 1890 70.4 59.4 57.0 

6. Switzerland, 1888 60.7 34.7 24.3 

7. France, 1891 ca 70.0 .... 32.4 

' The rule that the native town element decreases in cities in inverse ratio to 
their population has been denied by Hansen in his noted work. Die drei Bevolk- 
erungstufen, in which he prints a list of the 34 Bavarian cities (those with 
municipal institutions) arranged in order of size, and then points out irregularities. 
But it has never been claimed for the law that it applies to individual cities, but 
only to classes, and if the 34 cities mentioned be further divided into classes, the 
rule will be found to hold in most cases : 

Per cent of native city element 
in total population. 

4 cities over 30,000 pop 43 

3 " 20-30,000 " 53 

II " 10-20,000 " 46 

16 " under 10,000 " 54 

Where the number of cases is so small, the liability to fluctuations is always 
present. 



lATERNAL MIGRATION 26$ 

EXPLANATIOMS. 

1. The rural percentage is for all Prussia; the urban for cities of 20,000 + . 

2. The unit as regards birth-place is here not the town, but the " Lan " or province. 

3. The unit is the district, or province. 

4. The urban percentage is for cities of 20,000+ ; the rural for the remainder oithe country. 

5. Urban= communes of 5,000 + . The percentage in the last column refers to cities of 100,000 4- . 

6. Urban — communes of 10,000 + . 

7. In France we have the percentages of inhabitants who were bom in the commune where 
they were enumerated. Takiug the four departments that represent the largest and smallest per- 
centages of urban population, we have the following figures for 1891: 

Seine (99.13 per cent, urban) 32.4 

Bouches de Rhone (83.5 per cent, urban) 54.7 

Savoie Haute (91.7 per cent, rural^ 73. 

Cotes du Nord (90.0 per cent, rural) 69. 

These are the two extremes. There is not such a vast difference between the departements of 

Bouches de Rhone (containing Marseilles, the second largest city of France) and Cotes du Nord, 

(a rural di-partemenf) as regards the proportion of immigrants. 

England's statistics do not admit of ready comparison be- 
tween the urban and rural population in respect of immigra- 
tion. Certain typical counties may be selected, however; 
thus, among the following counties the percentage of popu- 
lation born in the same county was : 

Urban counties. Rural counties. 

London 65.5 Rutland 63.8 

Middlesex 32.9 Cardigan 87.6 

Lancashire 75.9 Suffolk 82,3 

Hereford 70.0 

It is certainly a striking fact that Lancashire, the typical 
manufacturing county of England, contains fewer residents 
of outside birth than do the rural counties of Hereford and 
Rutland. Even London has fewer immigrants than Rutland- 
shire. Middlesex, to be sure, has a large proportion of out- 
siders, but Middlesex should really be counted as part of 
one large metropolitan county including all London. Too 
much weight, however, should not be placed on these statis- 
tics, which are fragmentary at best and are in opposition to 
all others that we have on the subject. 

The three laws of migration now laid down hold good in 
the United States, so far as can be judged from imperfect 
statistics ; but the role of the foreigners is here a more im- 
portant one : 



264 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 









Table 


CXXVII. 








Of each 1,000 INHABITANTS THERE WERE BORN IN 








The 


same province 


Another province, 


A foreign 




City named. 


or state. 


state or county. 


country. 


London, 


(1881) .... 629 




732' 


204' 


63 


Paris,'^ 


(1891) 


... 324 




358 •-' 


541 


61 


Berlin, 


(1890) 


... 407 




589 


394 


17 


Vienna, 


(1890) 


•••• 349 




470 


420 


no 


Glasgow, 


(1881) 


••• 513 




614' 


214 


172 


Boston, 


(1885) 


... 385 




492 


167 


341 


« 


(1890) 






505 


142 


353 


Amsterdam 


(I 889) 


... 683 




769 


203 


28 


New York, 


(1890) . 







489 


89 


422 


Chicago, 


(1890) 







397 


193 


410 



Among the seven cities in the foregoing table there ap- 
pears a wide variation in the percentage of the native town 
element, which constitutes from one-third to two-thirds of 
the population. Very nearly as wide a range, however, may 
be found among the cities of a single country ; among the 26 
great cities of Germany, for example, it varies from 36 
(Munich) to 62.4 per. cent, (Aachen), the average being 
43.7 per cent. This percentage depends partly upon the 
individual city's industrial character ; partly upon its area, 
and in a larger degree, perhaps, on the composition of the 
population of the surrounding country. Thus the number 
of foreigners in the general population will afifect the city's 
composition, as it notably does in the United States. In 
Boston, the only large American city for which the neces- 
sary data were fully obtainable, the percentage of foreign 
born was 34.1, which is close to the average (31.8) of the 
28 American cities of 100,000 and upwards. None of 
the European cities, of course, approaches this figure. 

' For " province " read " county." " Foreign country " includes also Scotland 
and Ireland. 

2 Department of the Seine, nearly identical with Paris; the first column gives 
the percentage (32.4) of inhabitants of the department who were born in the 
commune of residence. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



265 



Even Glasgow's 17.2 per cent, consists almost entirely of 
English and Irish born (3.1 and 13.1 per cent, respectively). 
Vienna has the next largest percentage of foreigners, but 
these are in large part (77 of the no in a thousand) natives 
of the confederated country, Hungary. 

But while foreign immigration contributes large numbers 
to the population of American cities, it is not true, as Mr. 
Ravenstein, for example, seems inclined to think, that " the 
migratory current from the country to the city is scarcely 
perceptible in the United States and other newly settled 
countries."^ We have seen in a former chapter how villages 
have decayed and cities prospered even in the West, and the 
strong tendency of young men to abandon the farm in order 
to seek their fortunes in the city is a matter of familiar 
observation. Th« only statistics that we have on this point, 
however, are those of Massachusetts. They show that 1 1 
per cent, of Boston's population in 1885 had been born in 
other Massachusetts towns. Now it is possible, but hardly 
probable, that all these immigrants came from cities and 
none from the rural towns ; but one thing is clear at least : 
Boston's growth is almost as much due to immigration of 
native Americans as to her own natural increase or to foreign 
immigration. Of Boston's total population in 1885, 38.47 
per cent, were born in the city itself and 27.39 per cent, in 
the United States outside of Boston.^ Now London con- 
tains only 30.7 per cent, of Englishmen born outside of 
London, Glasgow 31.5 per cent, of Scotchmen born outside 
of Glasgow, and Amsterdam 28.9 per cent, of Dutchmen 
born outside of the city itself. The French and German 
cities, it is true, have larger percentages, but in view of the 
comparison between Boston on the one side and London, 

1 y. of St. Soc, 1889, p. 288. 

■^The remainder, born abroad, is 34.14 per cent. Mass. Cens. of 188$, vol. i, 
pt. i, p. Ixviii. 



266 I^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Glasgow and Amsterdam on the other, it can hardly be said 
that "the migratory current of the rural population toward 
the cities is hardly perceptible in the United States." ' 

Except for the larger immigration from abroad, the mi- 
gratory movement in the United States follows about the 
same direction that it does in Europe. In Massachusetts, 
for example, we have the following distribution of the popu- 
lation according to birth-place : 

Per cent, of total pop. 
Born in 1885.^ 

Town where enumerated 36.1 

Some other town in Mass 20.8 

Mass. — not specified 6 

Massachusetts 57.5 

Other New England States i x.2 

" North Atlantic States 2.7 

South Atlantic States 55 

North Central States 55 

South " " I 

Western States and Territorities i 

United States — not specified 2 

United States 72.9 

Foreign countries 27.1 

100. 

' The following table of comparisons may be found useful for reference ; 
Table CXXVIII. 
Percentage of population born in 

City of Territory immedi- Native coun- Foreign 

Date, residence, ately surrounding, try elsewhere, country. 

1. German cities (26) of 100,000+ 1890 43.7 30.7 23.5 2.1 

2. Austrian cities 132) of 20,000 -^ . 1890 43.1 26.6 23.1 7.2 

3. Scotch cities (7') 1881 52.4 24.1 10.3 13.2 

4. American cities (28) of ' v ' 

100,000+ 1890 52.4 15.8 31.8 

5. Boston i88s 38.5 12.9 14.5 34.1 

Authorities. — The official German and Austrian censuses. The percentages for American 

cities are based on nth Cen., Pop., i, p. cxxvi. For Scotland, Ravenstein, op. cit., p. 195. 
The " immediately surrounding territory " comprises the Gebietstheilen (provinces, etc.) in Ger- 
many; the Land, or province in Austria; the native county and border counties in Scotland; 
State or commonwealth in America. England and Wales are reckoned as " foreign countries " to 
Scotland. 

'^ Based on the data given in Mass. Census of 188 j, vol. i, part i, p. Ixx. And if 
strength of migration be portrayed on county maps of any commonwealth by 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 267 

It is unnecessary to go further in testing the hypotheses 
of von Mayr and Ravenstein. Detailed studies in several 
countries have been made, among which those of Dr. Rauch- 
berg, of the Austrian statistical bureau, are pre-eminent; 
these are illustrated with maps which convey to the eye the 
meaning of internal migration under the attraction of centres 
of population. They confirm the conclusions stated in this 
paper.^ They would also seem to meet the assertion some- 
times made regarding the mode of internal migration, namely, 
that it proceeds staffelweise, from farm to village, from vil- 
lage to town, from town to city, from city to metropolis. If, 
for example, the migration into a great city proceeds in the 
main from the immediately surrounding territory, there can 
be scant opportunity for smaller cities to act as feeders. 
Berlin, in 1890, cotained 936,143 persons born outside the 
city, or 59.3 per cent, of its total population. Brandenburg, 
the province in whose centre Berlin is situated, contributed 
287,540 of the immigrants, and the other 25 great cities 
(100,000+) of Germany contributed 53,856, or one-fifth as 
many. Nevertheless, the population of Brandenburg in 
1890 was half a million less than that of the 25 great cities 
(4,600,000 and 4,120,577 respectively). Statistics prove 
that great cities receive a small part of their immigration 
from other large cities, although a relatively large percentage 
of emigrants from these cities go to other cities to live. In the 

means of color or shading, it will usually be found that those counties which con- 
tain the largest percentage of natives of adjoining commonwealths are the border 
counties. Cf. maps showing interstate migration, in Stat. Atlas of (J. S. 

* " Die Gebiirtigkeitsverhaltnisse der Bevolkerung Oesterreichs nach den Ergeb- 
nissen der Volkszahlung von 31 December, 1890," in Stalls. Monat., xviii (1892), 
517-574, especially p. 556. Also " Der Zug nach der Stadt," ibid., xix, 125-171. 
The student who is interested in the subject will find excellent studies of the in- 
ternal migration in Germany by Briickner (" Die Entwicklung der grossstadt- 
ischen Bevolkerung Deutschlands ") and Schumann (" Die inneren Wander- 
ungen ") in the first volume of the /illgemeines iitatisches Archiv. 



268 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

following table of the German cities, (a) denotes the per- 
centage of persons born in other great cities among the 
immigrants of the specified city, (b) the percentage of those 
born in a great city and emigrating who go to another of 
the 26 cities : 

a. b. a. b. 

Berlin 5.8 13.3 Nuremberg 2.4 22.9 

Hamburg 10.9 36.7 Stuttgart 2.4 13,3 

Leipzig 6.5 25.9 Chemnitz 3.9 27.1 

Munich 2.4 9.5 Elberfeld 14.6 41.3 

Breslau 2.2 27.8 Bremen 4.9 22.8 

Cologne 6.9 25.5 Strassburg 3.7 9.2 

Dresden 6.1 20.0 Danzig 3.9 34.1 

Magdeburg 5.0 34.7 Barmen 11.8 44.0 

Frankfort 3.9 21.3 Stettin 3.9 41.7 

Hanover 5.6 27.9 Crefeld 5.5 27.0 

Konigsberg 2.6 35.6 Aachen 5.6 28.1 

Diisseldorf 9.3 31.9 Halle 6.2 30.5 

Altona 14.6 67.5 Brunswick 5.0 32.7 

Average (a) 5.9; (b) 26.6 

The cities arej arranged in order of size, and it will be 
observed at once|that the percentages do not descend in the 
same order. Berlin, Munich, Breslau are all below the 
average. The cities that receive the largest proportion of 
their immigrants from other cities, are Hamburg, Altona, 
Elberfeld, Barmen ; and a glance at the map shows the 
reason why. Hamburg and Altona are almost parts of one 
city and Elberfeld-Barmen also constitute a pair of " twin 
cities." Hence migration between them must be large. On 
the other hand, the cities with the smallest percentages, 
Munich, Breslau, Frankfort, Konigsberg, Nuremberg, Stutt- 
gart, Strassburg — are all isolated cities ; size has therefore 
little if any influencej^on the origin of immigration. Loca- 
tion is the prime factor, because internal migration is for 
short distances. 

Nor if one looks at?migration from the opposite point of 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



269 



view, does it appear that the largest city communicates 
primarily with other cities, and only secondarily with the 
rural districts or villages. While 67.5 out of every lOQ 
persons born in Altona and no longer resident there, are in 
the other great cities of Germany, only 13.3 per cent, of 
emigrating Berliners are residents of other great cities. 
Practically the same rule holds as before ; namely, it is 
distance rather than size of cities which determines the 
amount of immigration or emigration in connection with 
other places. Migration being predominantly short-dis- 
tance, the character of immigration to any city will partake 
of the local surroundings. And as in most cases the sur- 
rounding country is filled with hamlets and villages, the im- 
migrants will be of the rural class ; but as the distance 
widens the urban communities will contribute more and 
more. This appears in the military rolls of Frankfort^ 
1890-2, containing the names of 2,293 young men not 
born in the city but living there and becoming subject to 
military duty in the years mentioned. The province or state 
of birth was given as follows:^ 

Rural communes. Towns. 
Prussia : 

Hessen-Nassau 273 160 

Rhine province .... 50 69 

Rest of Prussia 134 188 

Hessen 238 127 

Bavaria 259 132 

Baden 126 84 

Wurtemburg 134 75 

Saxony 30 48 

Other German states 60 86 

Total 1,304 969 

All Prussia, except the province of Hessen-Nassau 
wherein Frankfort is situated, sends a majority of this par- 

' Bleicher, p. 37; the distinction between town and country is the legal one. 



270 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



ticular class of emigrants from the cities. From the four 
states of South Germany (being relatively near to Frank- 
fort) the migration was primarily rural, but from Saxony 
and the rest of Germany it was predominantly urban. The 
classification of the 969 city men follows : 

Towns under 5,000 inhabitants 369 

" from 5,000^20,000 inhabitants 227 

" " 20,000-100,000 inhabitants 233 

" 100,000+ 140 

969 

It cannot be said, however, that statistics of birth-place 
entirely disprove the hypothesis of migration by stages 
through village, town, city and metropolis, inasmuch as a 
man's previous place of residence does not always coincide 
with his birth-place. The migrant to London, who is 
credited to the rural county in which he was born, may have 
passed his earlier years in a neighboring city. The German 
municipal statisticians are now devoting some attention to 
the ascertainment of the immigrant's last place of residence 
as well as his birth-place, and these statistics, imperfect as 
yet, show that the cities figure more largely as feeders to 
other great cities than appeared in the statistics of birth- 
place. But as the percentages afifected are those born in 
distant parts (who reach the city of their destination after 
residence in intermediate cities), the conclusions already 
stated need not be greatly modified. Dr. Bleicher, of the 
Frankfort municipal statistical bureau, has published a study 
of the migration for the year 1891. After eliminating trav- 
ellers, visitors, and other persons whose sojourn was tempo- 
rary, he had remaining 23,254 male, and 16,166 female immi- 
grants, 11,440, or 70.8 per cent, of the latter being domestic 
servants. Of the men, 8,656, or 37.2 per cent., were born in 
the town from which they moved to Frankfort ; the other two- 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



271 



thirds had already left their place of birth. Of the women, 
excluding the servants, 43.9 per cent, came directly from the 
birth-place; or 58 per cent, if the servants be included. 
From these figures it is to be inferred that men are accus- 
tomed to migrate more frequently than women, although a 
larger number of women than men, as previously noted, par- 
ticipate in the migratory movement across township lines. 
A detailed analysis of the male immigrants to Frankfort in 
1 89 1 is presented in 

Table CXXIX.i 

Male Immigrants from Women. 

Rural Neigh- German Other Foreign From 

Born in county of boring cities of places in coun- All all 

Frankfort, cities. ioo,ooo-i-. Germany, tries. places, places. 



Last place of residence. ... 9 

City of Frankfort 6 

Rural county of Frankfort. 2 

A neighboring city 6 

A German city of 100,000 + . 2 

Some other German town. 72 

A foreign country i 



1 14.7 

2 4-3 
4 0-7 
4 4-0 

4-3 
67-3 
4-7 



German 


Other 


Foreign 


cities of 


places in 


coun- 


100,000 -•-. 


Germany. 


tries. 


18.5 


54-4 


33-9 


4.8 


2.7 


8.9 


0.5 


0.4 


0.4 


2.3 


1-9 


2.8 


7-4 


1.9 


4.9 


S7-0 


37-2 


20.0 


9-5 


1.5 


29.0 



37-2 43-9 

4-1 S-7 

0.6 0.7 

2.6 3.6 

3 4 3-S 

470 34-9 

S.o 7.7 

99.9 lOO.O 



It appears from this table that the direct migration from 
birth-place to the great city is dependent upon distance. Of 
the immigrants from German cities of 100,000+ over eighteen 
per cent, were natives of the city from which they removed 
to Frankfort, showing that there is considerable mobility in 
great city populations ; seven per cent, of these immgrants 
were natives of another great city, and 57 per cent, natives 
of a smaller city or village of Germany. It will be noted 
that the immigrants include a large number of born Frank- 
forters returning to their native city; that, in fact, Frankfort 
contributed a larger percentage to the immigration than any 
other city. 

The role played by people thus returning to their native 
town or former place of residence, is a considerable one. Dr. 

^ Bleicher, Heft II (1893), p. 46. 



2/2 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Bleicher found that of 4,541 emigrants from Frankfort in 
1891, 2,082, or 45.85 per cent, returned to the place from 
which they had come to Frankfort.^ Nor was this return 
current directed entirely to the small towns in the vicinity of 
Frankfort, as these figures will demonstrate:^ 

Emigrants to former place 

Original residence. Immigrants. of residence. 

Places within 12 kilometers 144 43=29.9 per cent. 

Cities of neighborhood 802 259=32.3 

Great cities 1,002 411=^41.0 

Other places in Germany 2,183 i»i 83=54.2 

Foreign countries 410 i86=-45.4 

Total 4,541 2,082=45.85 

The emigration to the great cities and to foreign countries 
consisted of those engaged in business and trade, while that 
to smaller places in Germany was made up chiefly of day 
laborers. 

As between rural and urban communes in the vicinity of 
a large city, the latter will contribute more than proportion- 
ately to its immigration. Thus in the little German city of 
Oldenburg (pop. 20,575) ^^ the enterprising duchy of the 
same name, it was found in 1880 that among 8,541 immi- 
grants, 1,975 o'f 23 per cent, had been born in urban com- 
munities (places of 2,000+) and "jj per cent, in rural 
communities. But outside the capital the population is 
almost entirely rural, and it results that while the rural com- 
munes contributed 3.1 per cent, of their population to the 
capital, the towns contributed 8.3 per cent, of theirs.^ There 
are other instances. Switzerland has not a very large urban 
population, and yet the city Basel in 1888 contained a body 
of persons, amounting to 14.5 per cent, of its population, 
who were born in other cities, 47.3 having been born in 

' Ibid., 53. = Ibid., 55. 

' Statistische Nachrickten Oldenburgs, etc., xix, 212. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 373 

rural districts and 38.2 in Basel itself.' In Bavaria again 
the free {unmittelbar) cities, excluding Munich, contained 
12.6 per cent, of the population in 1890; but they con- 
tributed 17.83 per cent, of Munich's Bavarian immigrants. 
In Saxony, where the urban population, excluding Leipzig, 
falls somewhat below the rural population, it nevertheless 
contributed to Leipzig's population of 1885, 32.40 per cent, 
while the rural communes contributed 31.67 and Leipzig 
itself 35.57. 

The mobility of the great city populations may, however, 
be inferior to that of rural communities. Professor Karl 
Biicher, having in mind the factory operatives and sweat- 
shop victims of slum populations, affirms that poverty, as 
well as persistent clinging to familiar associations, prevents 
city populations from migrating as freely as country people. 
In support of his opinion he offers the following : ^ 

Table CXXX. 

Percentage of (a) new citizens coming from 

Towns. Villages and hamlets. 

Cologne, 1356-1479 37.4 62.6 

Frankfort, 131 1-1400 28.2 71,8 

" 1401-1500 43.9 56.1 

(b) Journeymen book-binders: 

Frankfort, 1712-50 97.5 2.5 

1751-1800 94.3 5.7 

" 1801-35 89.2 10.8 

" 1835-50 86.0 14.0 

1851-67 81.2 18.8 

Such figures are inconclusive. It may well be that the 
increasing proportion of rural bookbinders in Frankfort is 

' Biicher, Die Bevolkerung des Cantons Basel- Stadt am i Dez., 1888. 

' Etitstehung der Volkswt., 62 ff. Llewellyn Smith shows that the twelve lead- 
ing manufacturing counties of England had contributed only 2.4 per l,GOO of 
their population to the population of East London and Hackney in 1881, while 
the twelve leading agricultural counties had contributed 16 per mille. (Booth, 
op. cxt,, iii, 71. 



2/4 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



due to the extension of the printing trade to small towns. 
Formerly, this trade like all others not immediately con- 
nected with agriculture, was the virtual monopoly of the 
cities. 

Nevertheless, there is other evidence that the population 
of a metropolitan city is less migratory than the average. 
In 1 88 1 of all the persons born in London and still living in 
England and Wales, 80.4 per cent, were residents of London, 
while in the general population of England and Wales only 
75.23 per cent, were residents of the county where born.^ 
With regard to Vienna, 84.7 per cent, of the native Viennese 
counted in Austria in 1890 were resident in Vienna; in the 
entire population only 66.3 per cent, were residing in the 
town where born : ^ that is, 153 out of 1000 born Viennese 
remove to other parts of Austria, and 337 of 1000 people 
on the average have left their town of birth. 

Emigration from the great city follows the general laws 
already formulated. It is overwhelmingly short-distance 
migration, since so much of it is directed into the suburbs. 3 
In the distribution of the natives of London in other parts 
of England and Wales in 1881, the contiguous counties 
(Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertford) forming an 
extra-metropolitan group received 53.73 per cent, of the 
migrants. Wales received only 1.36 per cent., but the 
Northern groups (manufacturing counties) received a 
slightly larger percentage than the midland group,'* although 
situated at a greater distance. A better idea of London 
emigration will perhaps be gained from the following table, 

iRavenstein, in Jour, of St. Soc, xlviii (1885), 195, 171. 

*Rauchberg, St. Mctt., xix., 152; xviii, 534. 

* Economically this should not be regarded as migration since it does not 
usually involve a change in the place of business. 

*Raven8tein, jf. of St. Soc, xlviii, 206-7. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 2/5 

in which the counties of England and Wales are arranged 
in concentric rings about London:^ 

Natives of London living in each 
ring of counties, per i,ooo of 
Average distance from the population of the 

Ring. London in miles. ringin 1881. 

I 23.8 142.3 

2 52.5 42.5 

3 90.9 17-7 

4 1 26.0 9.8 

5 175-7 8.5 

6 236.9 6.5 

Comparing this table with the one showing the influx into 
London from the same rings, it will be found that the first 
ring is more conspicuous here than in the inflowing move- 
ment, while the outside rings participate more largely in the 
inflow. This is what would naturally be expected ; the great 
city's attraction extends to the remotest boundary, and the in- 
flowing movement creates a counter current of emigration, 
which is, however, much less intense. On the other hand, the 
suburbs receive more than they give. Remarking that the reg- 
istration county of London includes parts of the historical 
counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent, we may note that in 
1 88 1 there were jGyyyi natives of extra-metropolitan Middle- 
sex in metropolitan Middlesex, and 80,271 natives of the city 
part of the county in the extra-city part, — again of 3,500 for 
the extra-metropolitan portion. These large figures repre- 
sent migration in no real sense ; they merely express part of 
the movement across an imaginary boundary line between 
registration London and Greater London. 

But whither go the real emigrants and why do they leave 
London ? Mr. Smith has followed up the native Londoners 
outside of London and the contiguous counties of Essex, 
Middlesex, Sussex and Surrey, and found 64,918 residing in 

^ H. L. Smith, in Booth, op. cit., \\\, 67, 126. 



2/6 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



cities of 100,000 or more, this being equal to 17.4 per 1000 
of their population, and representing their power of attrac- 
tion upon London ; 24,079 in cities of 50-100,000, or 14 per 
mille of their population ; and 196,415 in all places under 
50,000, or 1.29 per mille of their population.' Outside the 
suburban movement, therefore, it is the great cities that draw 
most heavily upon London. The movement toward the 
smaller places is partly non-economic, /. e., non-workers seek- 
ing retirement in a small town amid inexpensive surround- 
ings ; the larger part of this outflow however is not repre- 
sented in the figures given, for it consists of those returning 
to the county of birth. The outflow to the larger cities is 
without doubt on business lines and consists of artisans and 
business men of various kinds.* 

The nature of the migratory movement having been con- 
sidered at some length, it is now time to investigate the 
character of the migrants, and especially of the migrants to 
the cities. We have seen something of their character in 
studying the sources of the migration, but we may gain further 
light by considering the sex, age and social rank of the im- 
migrants. 

As to sex, it may be confidently declared that woman is a 
greater migrant than man, — only she travels shorter distances. 
In considering the sex of city populations we shall see that 
the excess of women among the immigrants is one of the 
causes of the general surplus of women in cities, which ex- 
ceeds that of the rural districts. 

^ Smith, in Booth, op. cit., iii, 126-7. 

'^ In Germany, also, the larger portion of the emigration from the great cities is 
either to the surrounding province or to other great cities; in 1890, of the native* 
of the 26 great cities who vi^ere living in Germany outside the city of birth, 56.1 
per cent, resided in the surrounding province, and 26.5 per cent, in the other 
great cities. (Calculated from statistics given in Statistik cles Deuiscken Retches, 
N. F., vol. 68, p. 71* ff.) Cf. Table CXXIX, supra, and Bleicher, ii, 52. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



277 



Following was the number of women (all the females) to 
100 men (all the males) in 1881,' among natives of 

England and Wales. Scotland. Ireland. 

Residing in the county of birth 104 108 104 

" in another county of same country ... . 112 114 116 

" in another part of the United Kingdom. 81 91 92 

The most marked predominance of the female sex is not 
among the " stay-at-homes," /. e., among those residing in the 
county of birth, but among those who have moved to some 
other county. On the other hand, however, the women 
predominate only among the short-distance migrants, for 
when it comes to emigrants to another of the three kingdoms, 
their proportion falls immensely. Other countries present 
similar statistics.'' So do cities. Thus of all the persons 
born in London and living anywhere in the United Kingdom 
in 1 88 1, there were 112 females to 100 males; but among 
those still residing in London, only 109.3 

1 J. of St. Soc, 1885, p. 197. 

*Some German statistics of 1S90 present the facts clearly, the following figurcB 
being the number of females to i,ooo males: 

Born. Prussia.^ Austria. ° 

In township of residence l,oi8 i,oii 

Elsewhere in same county * i>254 1,31 1 

" " the same province 1,064 1.023 

" " " " country 820 889 

In foreign countries 874 950 

Total population 1,038 i>044 

' Preussische Statistik, Heft cxxi. 

' Rauchberg, Stat. Mon., xix, 130. 

^ Kreis in Prussia, Bezirk in Austria. 

Taking the average of towns in these countries, it appears that in the native 
town element the women are not so strong as they are in the general population; 
but the female newcomers are chiefly from the same county, their proportion 
among other immigrants falling below the general average. The farther the dis- 
tance, the smaller the proportion of women. This rule apparently breaks down 
in the case of foreign countries; but as a matter of fact, international migra- 
tion like that between Austria and Hungary is really short distance. Germany 
with its long boundaries is in about the same condition. 

*Ravenstein, J. of St. Soc, 48: 195. 



278 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The statistics show that while women move from town to 
town within the same county or province more readily than 
the men do, they are more loath to move to a distance. 
The reason is probably to be found in the marriages which 
take women into a neighboring town, as well as the demand 
for domestic servants,' while men go longer distances in 
search of the best labor market. The relative proportion in 
which the two sexes participate in the migratory movement 
appears with considerable distinctness in the following Aus- 
trian statistics : ' 

Table CXXXI. 

Females to i,ooo males among those born 

Elsewhere Elsewhere Another Foreign 

In town of in same in same province of coun- Ratio in the 

Places with a pop. of residence. Bezirk. province. Austria. tries. whole pop. 

Less than 500 985 i.^gy 1,038 861 920 1,047 

500-2,000 1,001 1,373 1,047 882 945 1,049 

2,000-5,000 1,027 1,27s 1,012 854 995 1,347 

5,000-10,000 1,079 ^>^T^ 949 729 84s 1,029 

10,000-20,000 1,067 1,200 955 655 914 1,004 

ao,ooo+ 1,100 1,099 1,039 95^ 968 1,039 

Austria 1,011 1,311 1,023 889 950 1,044 

Vienna 1,095 •••• ••-• ■■■■ ••■• 1,061 

Graz 1,1:36 •••• •••• ■ — •••• 1,086 

It will be observed that the number of women to looomen 
is the largest in the smaller places and steadily decreases 
until the class of cities having 20,000 inhabitants is reached, 
when it once more increases. In the very largest cities it 
exceeds any of the ratios, being 1,061 in Vienna, 1,086 in 

^ Thus, the distribution of the female immigrants in Frankfort (Cf. Bleicher, p. 
15), as compared with the native Frankfort women was as follows: 

Bom Foreign bom to 

In Frankfort. Outside. loo natives. 

Children under 15 18,876 4.237 22.4 

Dependents (members of family, etc.) . 13,143 28,620 217.8 

Domestic servants 383 16,242 4,240,7 

Other occupations 3,881 9,21 1 237.3 

Total 36,283 58,310 160.7 

* Rauchberg, Stat. Mon., xix, 130. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 



279 



Graz and Triest,' etc, ; here is where the influence of large 
numbers of domestic servants makes itself felt. 

Considering the '* stay-at-homes " alone, it will be noticed 
that women predominate the more conspicuously, the larger 
the town ; that is, the males migrate in relatively greater 
numbers from large cities than from small towns. But among 
the migrants the predominance of the females is especially 
marked, not in the cities, but in the smaller places. Both 
facts are explained by the fact already emphasized that the 
large places alone draw migrants from a distance ; hence they 
attract a majority of men, since, as we just noted, women are 
short-distance migrants. Finally, the table shows that in the 
larger cities the female element predominates less strongly 
among the immigrants than among the natives, the contrary 
being the case in the smaller places. Thus immigration 
strengthens the native female element in small places, but 
weakens it in towns of 5,000 and upwards. 

The distribution of the sexes in the United States has been 
thoroughly treated by Professor Willcox ^ who calls attention 
to two tendencies : while, in all the elements of the pop- 
ulation, the females show a tendency toward concentration 
in the cities, the tendency is more marked among the negroes 
of the South and the immigrants of the North than among the 
native whites. In New York State, 50.46 per cent of the 
foreign born living in 118 cities and towns are females, and 
only 45 per cent in the rural districts, — a difference of 5'46- 
But among the native Americans the percentages are 51-32 
and 49.74 respectively, or a difference of only 1.58. In 
Georgia 54.84 per cent of the negroes in the cities are females 
and 49.76 per cent in the rural districts, — a difference of 5.08. 
But among the whites the percentages are 50.33 and 49.88, 
or a difference of only .45. Professor Willcox does not think 

' Rauchberg, ibid., xix, 153. 

'^ Am. yottr. of Sociology, i, 725. 



28o '^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

that this tendency toward dissociation and concentration 
among the female negroes and foreigners can be wholly ac- 
counted for by migration, but is in part due to the higher 
infant mortality among these classes in the cities/ 

Age. — It is a matter of common observation that the 
migrants to the cities are chiefly young people ; and in this 
case the results of common observation are confirmed by 
statistics. A good idea of the age classification of migrants 
to the cities is given in the following table in which the native 
and immigrant elements of the city of Frankfort are compared 
with the average of Germany'' (1890 in each case) : 

Table CXXXII. 

Frankfort. Germany. 

Born in Frankfort. Born elsewhere. 

Age. Male. Female. Male. Female. 

0-5 227 204 17 14 13O.I 

6-10 182 163 26 23 1 1 1.9 

II-15 169 154 41 36 109.5 

16-20 Ill 112 no 117 93.2 

21-30 105 130 299 316 161.9 

31-40 67 75 218 209 127.6 

41-50 57 62 158 143 103.8 

51-60 41 48 82 81 78.3 

61-70 27 33 33 40 52-0 

71-80 12 15 12 17 23.6 

81+ 2 4 1.6 3.2 4.2 

Unknown .... 2.4 .8 

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 

Only 7 or 8 per cent of the migrants to a typical city are 
under the age of 15, while in a normal population the pro- 
portion of children of that age is about 33 per cent. And 
while normally about one-half of any population will be at 
the age of 16-50, the age of activity, the proportion among 
the immigrants to a city is fully three-fourths. Over one- 

' Cf. infra, ch. v, Sec. I. 

"Bleicher, p. 6; Stat, des Deutschen Reiches, N. F. xliv, 24* ff. 



INTERNAL MIGRA TION 2 8 1 

half the immigrants are of the age 20—/J.0, — in many cases 
20— JO. Above the age of fifty, the percentages do not show 
any considerable variation. ^ 

The effect of the migration of persons in the active period 
of life to the cities, is to wrest away from the city-born the 
real work of the city. When it is said that 58 per cent of 
Berlin's population was born outside of Berlin, one is hardly 
prepared for the information that about 80 per cent of its 
male workers of the age of 30-60 are outsiders. But the 
following table shows the number of immigrants per 1000 of 
each age group in Berlin in 1885 :^ 

Male. Female. 

0-15 166 163 

Over 15-20 495 512 

" 20-25 765 697 

" 25-30 ..771 763 

" 30-35 791 779 

" 35-40 816 789 

" 40-45 811 785 

" 45-60 794 764 

" 60 767 764 

All ages 580 573 

Of children under 15, the immigrants contribute only 17 

' The foregoing statistics do not give the age at the time of Jtiigraiion. Such 
statistics would show that at least four-fifths of the migrants are young men and 
women. For example, of 295 migrants from English villages to London and 
other cities, 16 were under the age of 15; 235 (80 per cent.) were between 15 
and 25, 27 were between 25 and 30, and only 17 were over 30. (Booth, Life 
and Labor of the People^ iii, 1 39.) 

Bruckner, in his careful study of the German cities {Allg. Stat. Ar., i, 650), has 
shown that the age-grouping depends chiefly upon the volume of immigration, 
and its duration. The greater the immigration, the larger the percentage of the 
higher age classes, and the smaller the percentage of children. The only excep- 
tion occurs in the case of cities that have a strong current of emigration to the 
suburban districts, which embraces the young married people, and thus reduces 
the percentage in the higher age groups. Leipzig was, until the incorporation of 
the suburbs, a typical city of this kind. 

* Allg. Stat. Archiv, i, 634. 



282 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

per cent in Berlin, but of adults at the age of 30-60, the im- 
migrants form about 80 per cent of the entire population at 
those ages. Such a vast number of outsiders in the import- 
ant ages of life must necessarily have a deep influence on 
city life. ^ 

The length of the residence of immigrants to the city is alsa 
of interest. The Berlin statistics may be considered fairly 
typical, although there is always variation between different 
times and places : ^ 

1885. 

Male. Female. Total. 

Berlin born 420 427 424 

Residence o- 1 year 94 67 80 

" over 1-2 years... 49 39 44 

" 2-5 " • • • 94 92 93 

" " 5-10 "... 88 104 96 

" " 10-15 " ••• 96 ^oo 99 

"15 "... 159 170 165 

1000 1000 1000 

The immigrants who had been in Berlin less than 5 years 
in 1885 constituted one-fifth of the entire population, over- 
balancing those who had resided in the city more than 1 5 years. 
The proportion that had lived in the city over 5 years and 
less than 16 was also about one-fifth. 

In these data, the age of persons has not been considered ; 
but it has an important influence. Thus, most of the child- 
ren are to be found in the class of Berlin born, the recent 
emigrants are mainly young adults, and the immigrants of 10 

1 In this respect Berlin is not an exceptional city. In the same year (1885) the 
percentage of immigrants in the adult population (20 years -f-) was as follows: 

Male. Female. 

I.Hamburg 68.3 61,2 

2. Berlin 78.7 76.0 

3. Frankfort - 79.4 76.6 

4. Breslau 80.1 76.0 

5. Leipzig 84.6 78.4 

'■ Briickner, ibid., i, 632. 



INTERNAL MIGRATION 



283 



years' residence, middle-aged and elderly people. But the 
following table shows the 

Length of residence in Berlin of 1,000 adult immigrants (over 25 years) in 1885:' 

Male. Female. 

o-i year 71 51 

Over 1-5 years 130 116 

" 5-10 " 123 135 

" 10-15 " 164 163 

" 15 " 302 308 

Berlin-born 208 227 

998 1000 

It is somewhat reassuring to find that fifty per cent of the 
city's adult population consists of native Berliners at least 25 
years old and immigrants who have resided in the city at 
least fifteen years. But the other half of the adult population 
are such comparative strangers, that one can understand why 
municipal government resting upon manhood suffrage pre- 
sents so many difficulties in these latter days. 

To recapitulate : the manner in which the modern growth 
of cities has taken place is rather a larger natural increase in 
the city populations themselves (lower death rate!) than an 
increase in immigration from the rural districts ; the current 
of migration cityward has been observed for several centuries, 
but it is only in the nineteenth century that any considerable 
number of cities have had a regular surplus of births over 
deaths. 

Migration is predominantly a short-distance movement, 
but the centres of attraction are the great cities, toward which 
currents of migration set in from the remotest counties. The 
larger the city, the greater its power of attraction {i. e., the 
larger its proportion of outsiders, and the more distant the 
counties or districts which contribute to it). 

The mobility of great-city populations is below the aver- 
age mobility. 

' Briickner, ibu^., \, 639. 



284 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Women are greater migrants than men, but move only 
short distances ; marriage and domestic service being the 
levers of their action. 

Most migrants are young people, so that about 80 per 
cent, of the adult population of great cities is of outside birth. 

Two-thirds of the immigrants have lived in the great city 
less than 15 years. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS. 

Before any estimate can be made of the influence which 
the process of concentration of population exerts upon the 
industrial and social life of the nation, it will be necessary to 
study closely the structure and composition of the city pop- 
ulations themselves, and note the characteristic traits which 
distinguish them from the rest of the people. For after all 
that is said in derogation of the effects of mere association 
upon people's lives, it remains true that differences in the 
physical composition of any population do really explain 
many of its peculiarities. For the purpose of this analysis it 
will be best to study a few great cities, for they are the type 
of urban population that all masses of people dwelling in 
compact centres will tend to resemble as they approximate 
the great cities in populousness. 

r. SEX. 

The simplest distinction made between individuals is that 
of sex ; it is important, because all social life is affected by 
the proportions of the sexes. Wherever there exists a con- 
siderable predominance of one sex over the other, in point 
of numbers, there is less prospect of a well ordered social 
life. The determination of the numbers of the sexes is there- 
fore preliminary to discussions of marriage ties and home life 
under the influence of agglomerated populations. 

The important fact here to be recorded is that the cities 
contain a larger proportion of women than does the rest of 

285 



286 ^'^-^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

the country ; and as women outnumber the men throughout 
Europe and the Eastern States of America, it follows that 
the preponderance of women is accentuated in the cities. 
As examples will serve the following statistics indicating the 
percentage of women in representative American cities and 
the commonwealths to which they belong: 

New York city 50.66 State 50.37 

Brooklyn 51-12 " 50»37 

Philadelphia 51.18 " 49-29 

St. Louis 49.5 1 " 48.30 

Boston 5 1 -44 " 5i'42 

Indeed, of the fifteen leading cities of the United States, 
all but three, (Chicago, Bufifalo and Pittsburg), contained a 
larger proportion of women in 1890 than did the States in 
which they are situated. 

In European countries, where the population is usually 
more homogeneous than it is in the United States, with its 
industrial East and its newly-settled, masculine West, 
the tendency of cities to produce a surplus of women is more 
conspicuous. The German figures, for instance, show that 
to every 1,000 males, there are the following number of 
females : 

Germany (1890) 1,040 

Small cities (5,000-20,000) 994 

Middle-sized cities (20,000-100,000) 1,004 

Great cities (ioo,ooo-|-) i>057 

Here one observes a regular increase in the proportion of 
women to men, as one ascends from the smaller to the larger 
cities.'' Whether the same rule would hold in the case of 
villages does not appear; the Austrian statistics (Table 
CXXXI, last column) would indicate the reverse. But it is 

' The garrisons, it appears, form a larger percentage in the populations of the 
middle-sized and small cities than in those of the great cities; but the difference 
is not great. — Kuczynski, i8. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



287 



capable of statistical demonstration that in the majority of 
the older countries, the cities contain relatively more women 
than do the smaller places. The following statistics, drawn 
from the most recent censuses available, show that the only 
exceptions are Bavaria (due to garrisons in the small towns 
— Kuczynski, p. 27), European Russia, Servia and Aus- 
tralia : 

Females to t,ooo males. 
England and Wales, 1891 1,064 

1. London 1,116 

2. Urban sanitary districts 1,090 

3. Rural " " 1,010 

Scotland (1881) 1,076 

1. Rural districts 1,031 

2. Villages i>043 

3. Towns 1,102 

Sweden (1890) 1,065 

1. Stockholm 1,204 

2. Urban 1,191 

3. Rural 1)038 

Denmark (1890) 1,051 

1. Copenhagen I>I79 

2. Urban "^t^ZZ 

3. Rural 1,01 1 

Hungary (1890) 1,044 

1. Buda-Pest 1,066 

2. 27 other cities 1,084 

3. Rural remainder 1,027 

Netherlands (1889) 1,024 

Urban (cities of 20,000-f) 1,123 

Rural 982 

Spain (1887) 1.039 

Urban (^ca pi tales and communes of 20,000-f) 1,082 

Rural remainder 1.029 

Belgium (1890) 1.005 

Urban 1.049 

Rural 966 

Servia (1890) 94S 

UrbaTi 777 

Rural 977 

Trance (189 I ) 1.014 

Paris (1886) 1,045 



288 "^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Females to i,ooo males. 

Russia (1897) 999-7 

European Kussia 1,028 

St. Petersburg 826 

Moscow 763 

Poland 986 

Warsaw 1,064 

Percentage of males. 

New South Wales (1891) 53-89 

Rural 58.07 

Urban 51-67 

Country towns 52.91 

Metropolis 50-55 

Professor Willcox was the first to give the data for the 
United States : ^ 

Males. Females. Per cent, of females. 

Towns (2,500+ inhabitants) .. 11,358,986 11,373,439 50.03=1001 
Rural districts 20,708,894 19,180,931 48.08= 926 



32,067,880 30.554,370 48-79= 953 

The causes of the pecuHar distribution of the sexes are 
imperfectly understood. It is not an entirely new phenome- 
non, for many cities have long contained more women than 
men among their inhabitants. It existed in some German 
cities as far back as the fourteenth century.'' In the Nether- 
lands there was a large surplus of women in the cities sixty 

^ The difference is more marked if we exclude from the urban population the 
smaller towns. Thus, in New York State all but three of the cities of 25,000 and 
upwards have a preponderance of women, the average for this whole class of 
cities being 50.88 per cent., and only 49.80 for the remainder of the common- 
wealth. In Massachusetts the percentage of women in towns of 25,0004- is 52.70, 
in towns of less than 1,000 population, 49.63. Finally, in the aggregate popula- 
tion of the 28 American cities of 100,000+ the ratio is 999 as against 953 in the 
total population. — Cf. " Distribution of the Sexes in the United States," Amer. 
Jour, of Sociology (May, 1896), i, 732. 

^ Bucher, Die Bevolk^rung von Frankfort <tm Main in XIV and XV Jahr- 
kunderten, i, 41 f. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



289 



years ago ;^ and the same held true in the northern countries 
generally. 

In Paris the relative number of women has actually 
decreased, although it still exceeds that of the men, the per- 
centage of women being in 181 7, 53.4; in 1876, 52.6; in 
1886, 51.1.=' In Germany, on the other hand, the superiority 
of women in the cities is rather recent. Twenty-five years 
ago only a few of the great cities contained more women 
than men, but in 1 890 there were only two of the great cities 
that had a surplus of men, Strassburg and Magdeburg, both 
being cities with large garrisons. 

The question now is, where does this excess of females in 
the cities come from ? It has usually been held heretofore 
that it is due to the large number of domestic servants, who 
enter the cities from abroad or from the surrounding farms 
and villages. Thus in Boston in 1885 there was an excess 
of women of about 18,000, of whom 14,000 were born in 
foreign countries, Ireland alone contributing 10,000. The 
number of women to 1000 men in Boston was 1,024 among 
the native Bostonians, 1,025 among the natives of Massachu- 
setts, 1,032 among the natives of the United States, 1,229 
among the foreign-born, and 1,097 i^^ the total population 
of Boston.3 In this case the excess of women must be at- 
tributed mainly to immigration. 

But it has been discovered that in many European and 
American cities, the excess of women is really among the 

'The Dutch statistics show that to each 1,000 males there were the following 
numbers of females : 

1819. 1849- 1869. 

Netherlands ij045 1,040 1,029 

Cities 20,000 -f- 1,142 i>i59 i»i48 

Rural districts 1,005 1,002 990 

' Levasseur, ii, 392. 

'Cf. Mass. Census of 188^, vol. i, pt. i, p. 550. 



2go 2"v7£ GROWTH OF CITIES 

city-born rather than the newcomers. This is notably true 
of the great German cities, as the following figures for 1890 
demonstrate :^ 

Native city element. Immigrants. Total pop. 

Females 1,457.433 1.785.906 3,243,339 

Males 1,303,927 1,756,175 3,060,102 

Excess of females 153,506 29,731 183,327 

Ratio, females to males. I,ll8 1,017 1,060 

Professor Karl Biicher, thus observing that the Frauenuber- 
schuss of the cities was not the result of an immigration of 
females in excess of males, advanced a biological theory in 
explanation, saying that a city population has of itself a ten- 
dency to produce an excess of women above the general 
average." But he apparently overlooked the influence of emi- 
gration from the cities themselves. Unfortunately, no data 
are at hand for the ascertainment of the relative numbers of 
men and women born in the great cities of Germany who are 
no longer resident in the city of birth. But it is possible to 
compare the cities which are subject to the greatest amount 
of emigration with those subject to the smallest emigration 
and see what effect, if any, is exerted upon the proportion 
of women in the native population still remaining in the 
cities. The cities in which the percentage of those born in 
the specified city but now resident elsewhere in Germany was 
highest and lowest respectively, at the census of 1890, are 
given below, the second column denoting the number of 
females to 1,000 males in the native element remaining in the 
city: 3 

^Bleicher, p. 12. 

' Cf. Die Bevolkerung des Kantons Basel-Siadt am i Dez. 1888, p. 19, and " Die 
Vertheilung der beiden Geschlechter auf der Erde," in Allg. Stat. JrcAw,ii, 390. 

' Statistic des Deutschen Reiches, N. F., vol. 68, p. 71*, and Bleicher, i, pt. 2, 
p. 12. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 20 1 

Stettin 38,78 1,182+ 

Konigsberg 32.77 1,238+ 

Hanover 32.72 1,095 — 

Dresden 32.55 I,I44+ 

Danzig 31.97 1,262+ 

HaUe 31.55 1,118 

Hamburg 13.92 I>130+ 

Cologne 17.90 i)093 — 

Crefeld 18.23 i>075 — 

Frankfort 18.47 1,109 — 

Berlin 18.70 1,098 — 

Aachen 18.83 1,076 — 

Average of the 26 cities 22.31 1,118 

Now it appears that in the six cities having the largest 
emigration (within Germany) the excess of females is usually- 
above the average (as denoted by the + sign), while in all 
but one of the six cities with the least emigration, the excess 
of females is below the average. This indicates that more 
males than females emigrate from the cities, producing a 
surplus of females which roughly corresponds to the amount 
of emigration. 

More decisive are the statistics of Austrian cities. Taking 
all the people born in Vienna and enumerated within the 
Austrian empire in 1890, there were 1,082 women to 1,000 
men ; but in that portion of the native Viennese still resident 
in Vienna, the proportion of women was larger, namely 
i>095) — thus showing that more men than women had 
migrated. And this leaves out of account the emigration to 
foreign countries ^ which drafted even more males from Vienna 
than did the local, or internal, migration, by virtue of the law 
that men are the long-distance migrants.'' 

^ Sixty per cent, of the emigrants to the United States are males. 
* Cf. the following figures regarding the native Viennese : 

Resident in Vienna 1,095 women to 1,000 men. 

" " neighboring districts ^,057 " " " " 

" " other districts of the same 

province 1 ,050 " " " " 

Resident in another province 972 " " " " 

— Rauchberg, Stat. Man., 19: 153. 



292 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



But it remains true that taking in the city population as a 
whole and including that portion which had emigrated as 
well as the portion which was at home, the proportion of 
females is above the average. Thus, the number of women 
to i,ooo men was found to be as follows in the latest census 
of Austria:^ 

Austria, average i>044 

Towns of 500-2,000 (the maximum outside of the great cities). 1,049 

All citizens of Austria born in Graz 1,066 

" " " " « " Triest 1,040 

" " " " " "Prague 1,130 

" " « « " " Brunn 1,135 

« " " " " " Lemberg 1,095 

" " " " " " Cracow 1,190 

Now unless it can be shown that the small towns lose fewer 
males by international emigration than the large cities do, it 
may be regarded as an established fact that the cities produce 
of themselves a larger preponderance of women than do the 
rural districts. This seems the more probable when it is 
considered that already among young children, among whom 
migration would affect both sexes alike, the ratio of females 
is higher in the city than in the country. In the entire United 
States^ there are 960 girls to 1000 boys under the age of 
one year ; in the 28 great cities there are 976, Again there 
are, in the United States, 965 girls to 1000 boys under the 
age of five years; in the great cities 982. In Maryland, the 
commonwealth surrounding Washington on three sides, there 
are only 981 girls to 1000 boys under the age of 15, and in 
the United States there are only 970 ; but in Washington 
there are 1,015, ^^ excess which can scarcely be explained 
by the phenomenon of migration. The difference is even 

'Rauchberg, Stat. Mon., 19: 153. 

'Cf. nth Census, Vital Statistics 0/ Cities, p. 13, and Report on Pop. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



293 



more marked in the case of the colored children, for while 
Maryland has 994 girls to 1000 boys, Washington has 1,061. 
In Germany, too, the cities have relatively more girls than 
boys as compared with the country at large. In 1890 the 
number of females under the age of 15, to 1000 males of the 
same age was 986 in cities having 5,000-20,000 inhabitants, 
989 in cities of 20,000-100,000 population and 1,005 i"^ cities 
of 100,000 or over. As a further piece of evidence it is to 
be noted that the immigrants to the cities form a larger per- 
centage of the males than of the females under the age of 1 5 ; 
thus, in 1885 the immigrants constituted the following per- 
centages : ^ 

Boys. Girls. 

Breslau 19.1 18.0 

Leipzig 25.9 25.1 

Berlin 16.6 16.3 

Frankfort 19.3 19.2 

Hamburg 13.9 14.2 

In Hamburg alone do the immigrants add a larger per- 
centage of girls than of boys to the population under 1 5 
years.'' 

These facts would indicate that some other force than 
migration has been at work to cause the large excess of 
women in cities. But how do cities of themselves produce 
the Fraueni'iberschuss ? 

In the first place, it is to be noted that the proportion of 

^ Briickner, Allg. Stat. Archiv, i, 634. 

^ In Frankfort it is only in the age period of 16-20 that the females begin to 
predominate among the immigrants; in 1890 the number of females to 1,000 
males in each age-group was : 

City-born. Immigrants. Total. 

0-5 997 918 988 

6-10 993 976 990 

11-15 1,004 955 994 

16-20 1,122 1,178 1,157 

— (Bleicher, pp. 5, 6.) 



294 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



female births is larger in the city than in the country. This 
fact has long ago received statistical proof.^ A good illus- 
tration is to be found in France. According to Levasseur,"^ 
the average number of male births to lOO female births dur- 
ing the period 1801-65 was 103 in the department of the 
Seine (which is nearly coincident with the city of Paris), 
104.3 iri the remainder of the urban population and 105.3 
in the rural population. The difference is not due to the in- 
fluence of illegitimate births, in which there are fewer boys 
than girls and which are especially prevalent in the cities ; 
for, restricting ourselves entirely to the legitimate births .he 
figures would be 103.6, 104.6, 105.7 ii^ the order given 
above. In the city of Frankfort in Prussia the ratio has 
been remarkably steady for nearly two centuries, having 
been in the period 1701-50, 103.3; in 1751-1800, 103.4; in 
1801-50, 103.3; in 1851-90, 103.7; the average in 1635- 
1890 being 103.8.3 In Prussia itself the ratio has been 
higher, having fluctuated between 105 and 106 in 1874-91. -^ 
The causes of sex are still too imperfectly understood 
to permit an assignment of reasons for the great excess 
of male births in the country, but the most likely 
reason seems to be the inbreeding of a few family stocks, 
while in the city there is vastly more crossing. The fact 

' The ratios for the middle of the century are given by Wappaeus and Legoyt, 

the latter's being as follows (p. 69) : 

Births. 
Boys to 100 girls. 
City. Country. 

France 105.06 106.75 

Prussia 105.31 105.95 

Belgium 104.51 105.57 

Holland 107.73 106.72 

Denmark 105.73 106.19 

Sweden 104.62 105.06 

' La Population Frangahe, ii, 20. 

' Bleicher, p. 343. 

* Conrad's Hdwbh., Sup. i., 215. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



295 



that Jewish famiHes have a notably large excess of boy- 
births argues in favor of this hypothesis.^ 

Not only are relatively fewer boys than girls born in the 
city, as compared with the country, but more male children 
die in the earlier months of life. The science of demography 
recognizes the fact that infant mortality bears with more 
severity on boys than on girls, and as infant mortality is in 
most countries higher in the city than in the country,^ it fol- 

^ Mayr, Bevolkerungsstatisiik, 188, where a bibliography of the subject of sex at 
birth will be found; to it should be added the Theory of Sex Development, by 
Dr. Leopold Schenk, as well as the Evolution of Sex, by Geddes and Thompson 
(in Contemporary Science series), and Bertillon's monographs on Nataliti. On 
the statistics, see especially Boeckh, in Bulletin of the Intern. Institute of Statis- 
tics, vol, V. 

* In the urban population of Massachusetts, 1881-90, the infant mortality was 
175, in the rural population, 129.5. {,Rep- of State Board of Health for i8g6, p. 
753.) Some recent Prussian statistics may be cited in illustration of both the 
propositions in the text (Bleicher, p. 268) : 

Table CXXXIII. 

Number of deaths of children under one year to each i,ck)o living births (i8go-i) 
IN each category. 











Legiti- 


Illegiti- 


Differ- 




Male. 


Female. 


Total. 


mate. 


mate. 


ence 




a. 


b. 


c. 


d. 


e. 


a-b. 


Prussia 


. 220.9 


188.7 


205.2 


192.7 


357-3 


32.2 


Rural communes . . . 


. 210.8 


180.0 


195.8 


185.7 


333-1 


30.8 


Urban 


. 238.0 


203.4 


221. 1 


204.8 


389.0 


34-6 


Cities under 20,000. • 


• 225.3 


190.7 


208.5 


194.4 


378.3 


34.6 


Cities 20-100,000.. 


• 230.5 


1978 


214.5 


199.8 


389.9 


32-7 


" 100,000-f . . • 


• 259.3 


223.2 


241.7 


221.9 


397-4 


36.1 


Berlin 


. 269.2 


230.8 


250.5 


227.6 


412.7 


38.4 



Dr. F. S. Crum has recently shown {Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1897, xi, 259) that in 
Massachusetts infant mortality increases in direct ratio with density of population, or, in other 
words, with the numerical size of cities. 

The subject of infant mortality is discussed in all hand-books of vital statistics or demography, — 
Newsholme, Farr, Bertillon, etc. The le.-iding American authority is Dr. John S. Billings doth 
Census, vol. xi, " Relation of Age to Deaths "). An excellent article on infant mortality is con- 
tributed by Dr. T. B. Curtis to Buck's Hygiene and Public Health, vol. ii, pp. 269-301. A 
comprehensive sociological study has been made by Seutemann, Kindersterblichkeit sozialer 
Bevolkerungsgruppen, which appears as vol. v of F. J. Neumann's Beiirage zur Geschichte der 
Bev'dlkerung in Deutschland. Cf. also Silbergleit, " Ueber den gegenwartigen Stand der 
Kindersterblichkeit, ihre Erscheinungen und ihre Entwicklung in Europaischen Grossstadten,' 
Hygienische Rundschau, 1895. 



296 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



lows that the ranks of the males in the city are depleted by 
this natural cause. 

The effect of infant mortality upon the numerical relation 
of the sexes is conspicuous in the case of the negro race. 
In New York city, for example, the number of deaths of 
children under the age of five years to 1000 living of the 
same age was 231.09 for the colored and 115.65 for the 
whites ; ' in the same city the ratio of females in the colored 
population was 1,029 ^s compared with 1,011 in the native 
population of native parentage. 

Professor Willcox has observed that the six common- 
wealths in which the cities (towns of 2,500+ inhabitants) 
have a percentage of females above 52 are States with a 
large negro element (Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, 
Georgia, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina).'' 
In the cities of these States the whites do not have a very 
large excess of females; it is rather among the negroes, 
thus: 

Percentage of females in total population of the cities; 

Whites. Colored. 

Mississippi S^-^S 56.00 

North Carolina 51.12 53-33 

District of Columbia S^-OS 55-34 

Georgia 50.33 54.84 

But it is not alone the high rate of infant mortality which 
depletes the ranks of males in the city; there are other 
dangers to the health of males which show their effects 
oftener in the city than in the country, and thus tend to ac- 
centuate the urban excess of females. City occupations are 
oftener subject to fatal accidents; and, in fact, violent deaths 

^ nth Cen., Vital Statistics of Cities, p. 44. 
* American yournal of Sociology, vol. i. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 297 

of all kinds are more frequent in cities, as is expressed in 
the following Scotch statistics : ^ 

Proportion to Proportion of 

entire pop., 1871. violent deaths, 1878. 

Principal cities (25,000-f- pop.") 31.80 39-98 

Cities of 10,000-25,000 9.95 28.15 

Towns of 2,000-10,000 23.10 1 1.83 

Rural pop. (mainland) 31.22 11.94 

" " (islands) 3.93 8.10 



Violent deaths, of course, affect principally men rather than 
women. On this point the statistics of the little duchy 
of Oldenburg once more afford invaluable evidence. On 
the average population of 1871-85, for each 10,000 living 
persons, there were the following number of deaths : ^ 

Table CXXXIV. 

Urban (towns of 2,000 + ). Rural. 

Age-groups. Male. Female. Difference. Male. Female. Difference. 

0-5 654 573 81 534 471 63 

5-10 97 87 10 87 86 I 

10-15 51 62 — II 50 56 — 6 

15-20 77 73 4 65 58 7 

20-30 125 96 29 95 84 II 

30-40 158 138 20 103 126 — 23 

40-50 230 156 74 156 139 17 

50-60 323 232 91 243 215 28 

60-70 567 453 114 479 490 —II 

70+ 1.213 1,166 47 1,253 1,252 I 

All ages 244 222 22 225 209 16 

In the entire town population there is thus found a death 
rate of 24.4 for males and 22.2 for females, and in the 
country the difference is somewhat less, the rates being 22.5 
and 20.9 respectively. In only two periods does the city, 

^ Walford, " On the Number of Deaths from Accident, Negligence, Violence 
and Misadventure," y. of St. Soc, Sept., 1881, p. 28. 

* Statistische Nachrichten iiber das Gi'ossherzogthum Oldenburg, Heft xxii, 
p. 1 14. 



298 



THE GRO WTH OF CITIES 



as compared with the country, show more favor to man than 
to woman; during the ages of 10-15 ^"^^ 15-20, city females 
die more rapidly than the men, as compared with the rural 
rates. In the ages 5-10 and 20-30, there is also little differ 
ence between city and country, as regards the comparative 
death rates of males and females. But that infant mortality 
is higher in the city than in the country and is more severe 
on boys than on girls, appears once more in the figures for 
the age-period 0-5. It is after the age of 30, however, that 
city life appears to cause the greatest mortality of men as 
compared with women. In the years 60-70, the rural 
death-rate is higher for women than for men, while the city 
death-rate for men is far above that for women. 

Why do so many more men, relatively, die in the city 
than in the country? All things considered, it must be ex- 
plained on the ground that city occupations are more 
dangerous to the health of males than are country occupa- 
tions, while to females over the age of 5 years there is not a 
great difference between city and country. In other words, 
it is not the city air and conditions of life, so much as the 
peculiarity of city occupations, that cause higher mortality 
in the city than outside. The number of deaths among 
adult males has apparently been increasing in the city faster 
than in the other classes of population. Thus in Frankfort 
during four decades the number of female deaths to 100 
males dying was as follows : ^ 

Married 

Total. women. Widows. Girls. 

i8ii-20 373 51 46 276 

1821-30 326 47 47 232 

1831-40 231 37 36 158 

1841-50 189 33 32 124 

^ Bleicher, 244. Cf. with the foregoing conclusions, the conclusions reached by 
Dr. Kuczynski (p. 231) after a comprehensive statistical investigation: "While 
it is true that on the whole the mortality of the male population in the great 
cities of Prussia is somewhat more unfavorable than in the other parts of the 
Prussian monarchy, the same cannot be affirmed of the female population." 



THE STRUCTUFE OF CITY POPULATIONS 299 

Since, then, the cities have a high mortality among males, 
both infant and adult, and a relatively low percentage of 
male births, it follows that the cities would have an excess of 
females, even though they were entirely isolated and cut off 
from immigration or emigration. In the face of these facts, 
advanced students have abandoned the old belief that nature 
tended to equalize the number of the two sexes and that in- 
equalities must be explained by migration, war, pestilence, 
etc.,^ and Prof. Biicher has laid down the rule that the relative 
numbers of the two sexes are determined by the relation be- 
tween the rates of natural increase of the two sexes and cannot 
stand permanently above or below this ratio, provided there 
be no migration. There will be an equilibrium, of course, 
when females become so numerous that even with a lower 
death-rate, the number of deaths among them would exceed 
the number of births. 

To summarize : The excess of females in any population 
is usually ascribed, first, to the heavier mortality of male 
than of female infants, which within the first year usually 
efifaces the superiority of male births. Then comes the great 
mortality of adult males due to the dangers of their occupa- 
tions, as well as to vice, crime and excesses of various kinds 
which shorten life." Now all these forces are accentuated in 
the cities, producing a greater excess of females there than 
elsewhere, even without the influence of emigration, which in- 
creases the surplus of women in cities. In the cities also, the 

' Hence it was easy to explain the preponderance of females in Europe and of 
males in America as being the result of international migration. This is indeed 
the theory of the nth Census (vide Rep. on Pop., vol. i, p. Ixxi). Unfortunately 
for the theory, however, there are some European countries, notably Italy, that 
are subject to heavy emigration, and yet have an excess of males, while in the 
United States the " native whites of native parents," a class obviously not affected 
by migration, also have a large excess of males (966 females to 1,000 males) in- 
stead of an equal number or slight excess of females, as the theory demands. 

' Mayo- Smith, Statistics and Sociology, 41. 



300 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



superiority of male births over female births is smaller than 
in the country. 

II. AGE. 

The age classification of any population is a record of 
biological facts second only to the distinction of sex. Not 
to mention the economic significance of the predominance 
of the productive classes, or of children and aged persons, 
one must recognize the influence of the age-distribution upon 
percentages that have wide-reaching social significance, such 
as the birth-rate or death-rate. As the standard text-books 
have pointed out, the curve of ages approximates to the 
form of a pyramid, the newly-born forming the base and the 
very aged the apex. The more rapid the increase, the 
broader the base. With a stationary population, on the 
other hand, the base narrows and the upper part of the curve, 
representing the middle and advanced ages, bulges out, so 
that the age curve becomes bell-shaped. Finally, when the 
normal age-classification is disturbed by migration, there 
result two typical forms of the curve: (a) in the case of 
immigration, the curve may be likened to a top, on account 
of the expansion of the middle age-periods; (b) in the case 
of emigration, the curve sinks in the middle and the figure 
becomes spindle-shaped. All but one of the forms are found 
in the United States, that of the stationary population, which 
France tends to approach.^ 

Now the age-curve of city populations inclines to the top- 
shape, apparently as a result of immigration. Compare, for 
example, the distribution by age-periods of the population of 

1 Levasseur (vol. ii, ch. 15) has a model chapter on age-groups, copiously illus- 
trated with diagrams. Compare the summary in v. Mayr, Bevolkerungsstatistik, 
§ 30; Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Sociology, ch. iv; and diagrams in Statistical 
Atlas of the United States. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 301 

the United States and that of its 28 great cities (those of 
100,000+ inhabitants) : ^ 

U. S. Citiei. 

Under 15 355.3 299-46 

15-65 603.5 668.17 

65+ 38.6 29.43 

Unknown 2.6 2.94 

1,000. 1,000. 

Here, then, is a noticeable difference in age-grouping; the 
city population is markedly strong in people of the middle, 
active, productive ages, and has relatively few children and 
aged people. Similar contrasts are found in European 
countries. The Hungarian census for 1890 (p. 143*), for 
instance, compares the total population in the three classes, 
taking one class as a standard at 100: 

37 free Remaining 

Ages. Budapest. cities. population. 

0-15 70 88 100 

15-40 137 no 100 

40-60 95 ICO 100 

6o-|- 78 III 100 

The German statistics too, are, very informing : 

Table CXXXV. 
Age distribution in cities of 

100,000 + . 20,000-100,000. 5,000-20,000. Germany. 

Under 15 292 321 345 351 

15-40 474 450 417 387 

40-60 177 169 170 182 

604- 57 60 68 80 

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 
Females TO 1,000 males: 

Under 15 1,005 989 986 995 

15-40 1,010 916 909 1,027 

40-60 I«I36 I>i42 1,109 1,094 

60+ 1,616 1,518 1,364 1,196 

All ages 1,057 1,004 994 1,040 

* Calculated from the nth Census Reports on Pop. and Vital Statistics of Cities, 
p. 16. 



362 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Starting with the percentages for all Germany, there is a 
steady decrease in the proportion of children and aged 
people, as one progresses through the small cities to the 
great cities, and on the other hand a steady increase in the 
number of persons at the active age of 15-40, while the pro- 
portion at the age 40-60 remains nearly constant. ^ The 
cause, as stated above in Chapter IV (p. 280) is in the main 
the migratory movement. The percentages there given to 
show the age-grouping among the native Frankforters and 
the newcomers would be more fully realized in a diagram," 
wherein the curves should show the ages of native residents 
of Frankfort, and of immigrants. The former is bell-shaped, 
the latter top-shaped, as is the curve for the entire popula- 
tion, which is typical of all city populations. (Cf. the dia- 
gram representing the ages of men and women in Stadt and 
Land in Switzerland in the Census of 1888, Schweizerische 
Statistik., Bd. 88.) 

This difference of city and country as regards age group- 
ing was remarked as early as 1872 by Georg von Mayr in 
taking the Bavarian census. And recent investigations show 

^The Austrian statistics, even minuter, confirm the foregoing figures and 

deductions : 

Table CXXXVI. 

Classes of towns: 
500- a.ooo- 5,000- 10,000- 

Under 500. 2,000. 5,000. 10,000. 30,000. 20,000 + . Austria. 

10 years and under. 268 278 269 243 226 193 260 

11-20 194 195 197 199 202 193 195 

21-30 144 150 159 183 201 214 160 

31-40 124 125 130 132 134 151 129 

41-50 107 106 104 103 100 113 107 

51-60 84 79 76 73 72 73 79 

61-70 54 47 45 45 44 44 48 

70-}- 25 20 20 22 21 19 22 

— Rauchberg, Stat. Monats., xix, 133. For the elaborate statistics of France, 
see Risultats statistiques du dinotnbrement de i8gi, p. 222. 

^ The usual form of diagram consists of two curves, one for each sex, thus mak- 
ing the figures already discussed. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



303 



that a difference has existed throughout the century in 
Germany. As preceding tables have indicated, the differ- 
ence at present is about five per cent, in favor of the cities 
for the middle ages and of the country for childhood. In 
Prussia the same differences existed in 1816 and 1858: ^ 

Males. 
0-14. 14-60. 60+. Total. 



g^ f Urban 32.10 61.09 6.81 100. 

/Urban 31.92 63.03 5.03 99.98 



^ Rural 37.70 55.57 6.73 100. 

1858. ' 



•-Rural 36.36 57.93 5,68 99.97 

In Leipzig, the age-grouping in 1792-94 was about the 
same as it is now, and Dr. Kuczynski, to whose labors these 
results are due, concludes that at least in Berlin, Leipzig 
and Frankfort, the strong representation of the middle age 
classes and the small percentage of children are not phe- 
nomena of the most recent times, and that in fact the differ- 
entiation is not even a product of the present century. =* 
Hence the conclusion that migration cityward began earlier 
than 1800. 

Table CXXXV also illustrates the fact mentioned in the 
preceding section, that the preponderance of women in the 
great cities begins at an age when only biological forces 
could be at work, although its rapid increase in the later 
years shows that the high death-rate of males in middle life, 
and their emigration from the city, are also to be reckoned 
with. The preponderance of aged persons in the village 
and country districts, as contrasted with the city, is not to be 
explained by the existence of a " return current." In that 
case the excess of aged women would be greater in the 
country than in the city. 3 

As the resnlt of the presence of a relatively large number 

^ Kuczynski, 262. * //5tV/., 270. 

' See further on the subject of a " return current of migration," Ogle, " Alleged 
Depopulation," etc., in J. of St, Soc, 1889, 216. 



304 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



of persons in the active period of life in urban populations, 
one would expect city life to be easier and more animated, 
the productive classes being large and having a smaller 
burden to bear in the support of the unproductive class. 
One would also expect to find more energy and enterprise 
in cities, more radicalism, less conservatism, more vice, crime 
and impulsiveness generally. Birth-rates should be high in 
cities and death-rates low, on account of age grouping. 

III. RACE AND NATIONALITY. 

A third natural difference among men is that of race, 
which may or may not be accompanied with a differ- 
ence of nationality. The Italian and the German are racially 
differentiated, but men of both races are citizens of the Swiss 
republic. It will therefore be convenient to consider race 
and nationality together, although nationality is a political 
rather than a natural distinction. 

In the chapter on migration it was shown that foreigners 
are found in largest numbers in cities. Table CXXV, indeed, 
shows that the larger the city, the greater the percentage 
of foreigners in its population. But while the foreign ele- 
ment is strong in European capitals compared with pro- 
vincial cities, its numerical strength there is nothing com- 
pared with its position in American cities. The difference 
was brought out in Table CXXVII. The composition of the 
city populations of the United States is therefore of especial 
interest on account of their large contingent of European- 
born. Taking the 28 cities of 100,000 population and up- 
wards in 1890, we find the following elements of population: 

Bom in 

State where resident 5,082,637 52.4 

Some other American State '■>530>67S I5>8 

Foreign countries 3,084,648 3 1 .8 

9,697,960 100.00 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



305 



Somewhat over one-half the population of our cities was 
born either in the city itself or in the commonwealth to 
which it belongs, while a little less than one-third was born in 
foreign countries. In the entire country only 14.77 P^^^ cent, 
of the population is foreign-born. The cities therefore con- 
tain more than their due proportion of foreigners. Ex- 
pressed in another form, the 28 great cities, while constitut- 
ing in 1890 15.5 per cent, of the entire population of the 
United States, contained 12.4 per cent, of all the American- 
born, and 33.4 per cent, of the foreign-born in the United 
States. There is therefore a decided tendency on the part 
of the foreigners to settle in our largest cities. The ques- 
tion is. Is this tendency recent and increasing, or is it a 
natural and permanent incident of the process of distributing 
the newcomers? 

As to the process of distribution, it may be remarked at 
the outset that it is not entirely the task of the seaports ; 
Chicago has had at nearly every census a larger percentage 
of foreigners than New York or San Francisco. 

Table CXXXVII shows the proportion of the foreign-born 
in the population of the ten leading cities since i860, com- 
pared with the proportion of the foreigners in the population of 
the commonwealths and the entire country. From this table 
may be deduced the rule that in the United States and in 
most of the commonwealths, the percentage of foreigners has 
uniformly and almost steadily increased since 1850, while on 
the other hand, it has decreased in the cities. The conclusion 
is the opposite of a very general belief,^ which is probably 
founded on a comparison of the census figures of 1890 and 
1880. The percentage of foreign-born in 1880 was almost 

^ " The tendency is to increased concentration of the foreign-born in large 
cities owing to the increased immigration of Latins and Slavs." Mayo-Smith, 
op. cit., p. 302. Cf. the arguments advanced in behalf of the Lodge bill restrict- 
ing inmiigration. 



3o6 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



uniformly lower, both in the city and in country, than at the 
preceding censuses. This was a result of the relatively small 
immigration in 1870-80 (2,800,000 as against 2,300,000 and 

Table CXXXVII. 

Percentage of foreign-born in the total population of States and cities named ; 

1850. i860. 1870. 1880. 1890. 

United States 9.68 13.16 14.44 "S-SZ I4-77+ 

North Atlantic States (9)... 15.37 19.10 20.49 I940 22.34+ 

Massachusetts 16.49 21.13 24.24 26,78 30.77+ 

I.Boston 35-874- 31-53 31-64 35-27 

New York 21.18 25.80 25.97 23.83 26.19+ 

2. New York city 47-i6+ 44-49 39-68 42.23+ 

3. Brooklyn 36.54+ 31-36 32.46 

Pennsylvania 13.12 14.81 15.48 13.73 16.08+ 

4. Philadelphia 29.96+ 27.24 24.12 25.74 

South Atlantic States (9)... 2.24 3.03+ 2.85 2.29 2.35 

Maryland 8.78 11.28+ 10.68 8.86 9.05 

5. Baltimore 24.71+ 21.09 16.89 15.88 

District of Columbia ... . 9.51 16.63+ 12.34 9.64 8.15 

North Central States (12)... 12.04 "6.97 17.97 ^6.80 18.16+ 

Ohio 11.02 14.03+ 13.98 12.35 ^2.51 

6. Cincinnati 45.09+ 36.81 28.09 24.05 

Illinois 13.14 18.96 20.28 18.96 22.01 + 

7. Chicago 49.99+ 45.01 40.71 40.98 

Missouri 11.23 13.58+ 12.91 9.76 8.77 

8. St. Louis 50-53+ 36.1 1 29.96 25.43 

South Central States (8)... 3.18 3-99+ 3.62 3.08 2.93 

Louisiana 13.18+ 11.44 8.51 5.76 4.45 

9. New Orleans 38.31+ 25.32 19.05 14.20 

Western States and Ter- 
ritories (11) 15.11 28.92 31.64+ 28.29 25.46 

California 23.55 38.56+ 37-95 33-87 30.32 

10. San Francisco .... 49.32+ 44.56 42.11 

The sign (+) designates maxima. In most of the cities, the maximum occurs in i860, while in 
the United States (and in many of the commonwealths, including most of the Northern States) 
the maximum was at the latest census, 1890. In connection with this table, the author desires to 
acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. Dclos S. Wilcox. 

2,600,000 in the decades 1860-70, 1850-60.) Unless the im- 
migration constantly increases, the percentage of foreigners in 
the total population will diminish, as the children of the immi- 
grants go to swell the number of natives. With the exception 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



307 



of 1880, therefore, the percentage of foreigners has constantly 
increased in the general population and as constantly 
decreased in the largest cities, signifying a slow but certain 
process of equalization. The cities, then, act as centres of 
dispersion for the immigrants, and the fact that in New York 
and most of the other great cities the percentage of foreigners 
was smaller in 1890 than in 1870 shows how rapidly dis- 
persion takes place. The number of immigrants in 1880-90 
was unprecedently large (5,200,000, or double the average 
of the three preceding decades), and without rapid distribu- 
tion would have greatly increased the percentage of the 
foreigners in 1890 as compared with previous census years. 
Even as compared with 1880, the percentage of foreigners 
had increased less rapidly in the larger cities than in the rest 
of the country. Computations by Professor Willcox show 
that in the fifty most populous cities of the country in 1880, 
29.9 per cent, of the population was of foreign birth, while in 
1890 the percentage in the same cities had risen only to 30.8. 
Whereas the percentage of persons of foreign birth in the 
rest of the country (including substantially all places of less 
than 56,000 inhabitants in 1890) had increased from lo.o 
per cent to 11.3 per cent.^ 

As to the inclination of the various nationalities to dwell 
in the large cities, the eleventh census gives us the following 
proportions of their total number who in 1 890 were dwelling 
in the 124 cities of at least 25,000 inhabitants:' 

^ The Federal Census, Publications of the American Economic Association, New 
Series, No. 2, p. 24. 

* Rept. on Pop., vol. i, p. cl. 



3o8 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Total number in Per cent, thereof in prin- 

United States. cipal cities (25,000+). 

Italians 182,580 58.79 

Russians 182,644 S7'90 

Poles 147)440 57-1 1 

Irish 1,871,509 55.97 

Austrians 123,271 48.33 

Bohemians 118,106 48.32 

Germans 2,784,894 47-71 

French 113,174 45-69 

Hungarians 62,435 44-78 

Scotch 242,231 41-25 

English 1 909,092 40.70 

Chinese 106,688 40.19 

Dutch 81,828 33.54 

Swedes 478,041 31.81 

Canadians ^ 980,938 31-36 

Swiss 104,069 31.15 

Welsh 100,079 25.80 

Danes 132,543 23.24 

Norwegians 322,665 20.78 

Mexicans 77,^53 7-97 

Other nationalities 127,467 39.22 

Total 9,249,547 44-13 

From this table it would appear that the least desirable 
class of immigrants — those from Southern Europe — are 
most prone to remain in the great cities. The fact is, how- 
ever, that much, if not most of this immigration is very 
recent and there has hardly been time for the new arrivals to 
disperse. Comparing [890 with 1880 it will be found that 
the percentage of those remaining in cities declined among 
the Italians, Poles and Hungarians, while only among the 
Russians did the increase considerably exceed the increase 
for the Germans and Irish. For the following data the 
author is indebted to Professor Willcox of Cornell : 

' Includes Great Britain not specified. 
' Includes Newfoundland. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 309 

Percentage in cities ' of total in U. S. 
(Increase or decrease between 1880 and 1890 is denoted by ~r or — .) 

1880. 1890. 

j- Russians 24.2 53.8 

— Italians 61.3 53.7 

—Poles 53.5 51.7 

-|- Bohemians 39,9 44.4 

+Austrians 35.0 43,8 

— Hungarians 58.6 39^, 

-|- All six 44.0 49.4 

— Other foreign-born 34.6 32.9 

+Native 12.6 14.5 

+Total 15.5 17.9 

-j-Germans 39.4 42.0 

-|- Irish 45.8 48.5 

+English 30.7 33.0 

+ Canadians 21.9 224 

+Swedes 17.0 25.1 

While the immigrants from Southern Europe have been 
recent arrivals and have not widely dispersed, the Canadians, 
who have been coming across the boundary line for a long 
time without having to pass through a great city on their 
entrance, were widely scattered in 1890 and nearly as much 
so in 1880. The Mexicans, of all nationalities with a repre- 
sentation of over 50,000 in the United States, are the least 
concentrated in large cities ; a fact which without doubt re- 
sults from their manner of entrance and the size of the 
centres of population nearest their own country. With the 
decline of railway building and the complete occupation of 
public lands it may be expected that immigrants in the 
future will disperse less readily than in the past. As they 
belong almost entirely to the lower ranks of laborers they 
will be able to find employment only in the cities, whose 
large public works and manufactures demand muscular, un- 
skilled labor. 

' The cities referred to are the 50 principal cities of 1880. 



310 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



It has been noted that while the foreign-born element 
constitutes 14.77 P^*" cent, of the population of the United 
States, it forms 31.8 per cent, of the population of the great 
cities (100,000+ pop.). In the case of the negroes, the per- 
centages are at present reversed, but since their emancipa- 
tion they have been migrating to the cities to a considerable 
extent. Hoffman gives the following comparative rates of 
increase, 1860-90, in the Southern States and their sixteen 
principal cities (14 in i860) for the whites and the 
negroes : ^ 

White. Colored. 

Cities 94.1 1 242.60 

Remainder of popiilation 45-52 A^-^Z 

This indicates a movement of the colored people city- 
ward, causing a smaller rate of increase in the rural parts of 
the country and a much higher rate in the cities than ob- 
tained among the whites. The colored constituted the fol- 
lowing percentages of the entire population of the 

i860. 1890. 

Ten States 36.CO 35-96 

Cities specified 18.85 29.08 

"In i860, 11.67 P^"* cent, of the white population lived in 
the large cities, increasing during 30 years to only 14.89 per 
cent. ; in contrast with an increase from 4.82 per cent, of 
colored urban population in i860 to 10.93 in 1890." "" If pres- 
ent tendencies continue, the negroes will be more inclined to 
city life than the whites of the same State. Hoffman, in- 
deed asserts that "during the last decade this migratory 
tendency of the colored population has been more pro- 
nounced than ever." * But a critic in the New York Even- 

^ Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro {Pubs, of Amer. Ecoti. 
Assn., vol. xi, pp. 9, 10). 

^ Ibid., II. ^ Ibid., 12. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



311 



ing Post has pointed out that the changes noted by Mr. 
Hoffman as occuring in the period 1860-90 were for the 
most part effected in the era of emancipation (1860-70), 
when the negroes naturally felt themselves under a strong 
impulse to see something more of the world than could be 
viewed from the plantation. The percentage of negroes in 
the entire population of the selected cities increased as fol- 
lows: 

i860 18.85 

1870 27.74 

1880 28.55 

1890 29.08 

Mr. Hoffman also errs in his statistical tables designed to 
show that the negroes are increasing more rapidly than the 
whites in the large cities of the country. He includes in 
one table cities that contained more than 20,000 negroes in 
1890, and in a second table those that contained between 
10,000 and 20,000 negroes; but the sum total of all the 
cities in both classes contradicts his inference that the 
negroes are increasing in these cities more rapidly than 
the whites : ^ 

White population. Colored population. 

1880. 1890. Increase ^. 1880. 1890. Increase ^. 

Group I .. 3,117,174 3.965.7" 27.22 376,316 498,104 32,36 
Group II.. 1,407,834 2,386,493 69.51 74,875 129,849 73.42 

Total 4,525,008 6,352,204 40.00 451. 191 627,953 39.00 

Evidently Mr. Hoffman's methods are not beyond criti- 
cism. As a matter of fact, the percentage of negroes in- 
creased in very few of the great cities. Taking Mr. Hoff- 
man's figures for a few of our largest cities that contained 
more than io,ooo persons of African descent in 1890, we find 

^ Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro {Pubs, of Anier. Econ. 
Assn., vol. xi, pp. 12, 13.) 



312 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



that they constituted the following percentages in the popu- 
lation of 1880 and 1890: 

1S80. 1890. 

New York 1.66 1.60 

Chicago 1.30 1.31 

Philadelphia 3.9 3.9 

Brooklyn 1.45 I.29 

St. Louis 6.8 6.3 

Baltimore 19.3 18.3 

Cincinnati 3.3 4.1 

New Orleans 36,4 36.2 

Washington 48.5 49.0 

While there undoubtedly exists an important movement 
of the negroes to the North, directed in the main toward 
the cities, ^ negro mortality is here so high on account of 
climatic and other conditions, that in most of the great 
cities it prevents the negro race gaining upon the whites, 
or even holding its own. But in the smaller cities of the 
South it is otherwise, and trustworthy statistics clearly show 
that the movement cityward in the Southern States affects 
the negro more than it does the white population. Thus of 
the total white and negro populations in the States specified, 
the following percentages dwelt in towns of 4,000 and up- 
wards in 1880 and 1890:^ 

Table CXXXVIII. 

Whites. Negroes. 

1880. 1890. Difference. 1880. 1890. Difference. 

Alabama 4.44 7.79 3.35 4-82 8.68 3.86 

Arkansas 1.29 4.63 2.34 2.14 7.25 5. 11 

Florida 10.02 14.39 4.37 7.96 14.89 6.93 

Georgia 7.68 13.74 6.06 7.75 14.59 6.84 

Kentucky 36.16 33.35 2.81 ' 13.79 13.96 .17 

Mississippi 2.87 4.38 1.51 2.20 3.68 1.48 

In five of the six commonwealths here represented, the 

1 Cf. F. J. Brown, The Northward Movement of the Colored Population, 

2 Lectures of Professor W. F. Willcox on Social Statistics. 
' Decrease. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



313 



urban percentage increased more among the negroes than 
among the whites in the decade 1880-90; and Maryland is 
the only other Southern State that stands with Mississippi 
as an exception in this respect. 

The consequences of this tendency of the negro race to 
move into the towns and cities are, in the opinion of the 
present writer, likely to be wholesome rather than the oppo- 
site, at least so long as the movement is toward the towns 
and smaller cities in the South, rather than toward the great 
cities of the North, where the conditions of life in the negro 
quarters are pitiable in the extreme. ^ To learn industry, 
thrift and self-reliance, the negro needs to be removed from 
the isolation, ignorance and shiftlessness of the farm or plan- 
tation and brought under white superintendence in the town. 
If the present experiments in the direction of employing 
negro labor in Southern cotton factories result successfully, 
there promises to be a period of real advance in the econ- 
omic efficiency of the negro, and thus an eventual solution 
of the negro problem. 

Mr. Hoffman pictures in lurid light the effects of the ex- 
cessive mortality of the negro race (especially in the cities) ; 
its increase since emancipation ; the impairment of the con- 
stitutional vigor of the race, as seen in the abnormal preval- 
ence of consumption and other pulmonary troubles, and in 
the excessive infant mortality ; the enormous economic waste 
involved in the death of many of the young and the survival 
of comparatively few to the productive ages ; the hindrance 
that such a population offers to the development of our 
cities, etc.'' It may be doubted, however, whether the negro 
race has not a considerable power of resistance to these 
forces of deterioration that Mr. Hoffman predicts will wipe 

^ See, for example, the letter of Mr. Paul Lawrence Dunbar to the New York 
Sun, Sept. 4, 1897, ^i^d foJ^ details, Hoffman, op. cit. passim, but especially ch. ii. 
- Cf. the summary, op. cit,, pp. 145-8. 



314 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



it out of existence after the manner of the Maories and 
Sandwich Islanders. For example, there is some evidence, 
not presented by Mr. Hoffman, to the effect that negro mor- 
tality is now diminishing rather than increasing in the 
Southern cities.^ Whether or not an inroad has as yet been 
made upon the sexual immorality that is the bottom cause 
of race degeneration, there is this consolation : A band of 
intelligent, highly educated, self-sacrificing negroes has fully 
possessed itself of the perilous situation of the race and is 
struggling manfully and hopefully toward the true goal. So 
long as the race can produce leaders like Booker Washing- 
ton and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, there is no cause for despair. 
Whatever tendency can be shown to make for the im- 
provement of eight million Americans cannot fail to be of 
vital import to the nation as a whole. In the author's 
opinion, the nation can view with equanimity the movement 
of the negroes from the farm to the smaller cities. This is 
certainly preferable to a concentration of the race on farm- 
ing lands in a " black belt." 

IV. OCCUPATION. 
The connection between occupation and place of habita- 
tion is as close as possible and requires few words of expla- 
nation in this place. The entire essay, as a matter of fact, 
is occupied with the theme in its broadest aspects, — how in- 
dustrial organization conditions the dwelling-places of 
individuals. 

' The Bulletin of the U. S. Dept. of Labor., May, 1897, presents the following 

statistics compiled from the official health reports of the several cities (pp. 270- 

283): 

Deaths pbr 1,000 of negro population: 

Atlanta. Memphis. Richmond. Baltimore. Charleston. 

1882-85 37-96 43.01 40.34* 1880-84 36.15 44.08'^ 

1886-90.... 33.41 29.35 38.83 1885-89 30.52 46.74 

1891-95 32.76 21. II 34.91 1890-94 31.47 41.43 

•^ For 1881-85. ^ For 1881-84. 



THE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



315 



The German census of occupations in 1882 affords the fol- 
lowing comparison : 

Table CXXXIX. 

Percentage of inhabitants belonging to specified occupation in 

Cities Cities Towns 

Cities 20,000- 5,000- 2,000- Rural All 

100,000 + . 100,000. 20,000. S,ooo. parts. Germany. 

Agriculture i .4 3.4 9.9 26.3 64.5 42.5 

Mfs. and mining 47.3 52.8 53.6 49.0 24.4 35,5 

Trade and commerce . . 26.6 19.5 15.6 11.6 4,9 lo.o 

Casual day labor 5.0 4.5 4.3 2.9 0.7 2.1 

Liberal professions, etc. 10.7 11.2 9.1 4.9 2.3 4.9 

Free incomes; unknown. 8.9 8.6 7.6 5.4 3,7 5.0 

99.9 loo.o loo.i loo.i 100.5 loo.o 

Agricultural pursuits naturally figure poorly in the great 
cities, and gain ground as one descends to the village and 
hamlet. Industry, it is worth noting, makes a smaller per- 
centage in the great cities of Germany than in the smaller 
towns. While this is doubtless due in part to suburban de- 
velopment, and while the inclusion of mining in the rubric 
must also favor the smaller towns, it confirms the conclusion 
reached earlier in the essay that it is not so much manufac- 
turing industry as commerce that builds up great cities. 
Casual labor is also affected by the degree of agglomera- 
tion ; the statistics show that the process of concentration of 
population increases this unfortunate class. On the other 
hand, it also increases the strength of the liberal professions, 
which would usually be counted a blessing unless these 
ranks absorbed too many men in the effort to cure abuses in 
law, hygiene, medicine, religion and education. The sixth 
class is made up largely of people without occupation, in- 
mates of institutions, and people living on their incomes. 
This class, too, is attracted to the cities. 

It will be of interest to see what percentage of the popu- 
lation is engaged in gainful occupation in the various cate- 
gories of towns, although, to be sure, such percentages 



3i6 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

depend in a measure on the proportion of children. This 
proportion being smallest in the great cities, one would ex- 
pect to find there the largest working population. Such 
was the case according to the German occupation statistics 
of 1882: 

Percentage of adult 

Percentage of inhab- women 

itants engaged. occupied, in domestic service. 

Cities loOjOOo-f- 40.3 24.1 14.4 

" 20,ocx)- 1 00,000 38.1 21. 1 12.6 

" 5,000-20,000 37.4 20.9 10.7 

Towns 2,000-5,000 37.3 23.9 8.2 

Rural parts 39.7 31.2 6.2 

The one exception to the rule stated above — that the per- 
centage of workers in the population increases with the size 
of the town — exists in the case of the rural districts and is 
due to the common practice of women working in the fields, 
as appears in the second column of the table. Few women 
act as servants in the country, but the number steadily in- 
creases as one progresses towards the great cities. 

A third question arises in this connection : What efifect 
does agglomeration have upon the industrial rank of the in- 
dividual? The following Austrian statistics would seem to 
indicate that agglomeration favors the upper ranks — em- 
ployers, independent workers, and the higher employees — 
at the expense of the lower — the artisans and day laborers :^ 

Percentage of persons occupied in 

Other places Places of 

Great cities. ' of 2,000+. 2,000 — . 

Independent^ 33.9 30.3 27.1 

Salaried employees 15.8 8.6 1.3 

Artisans 47.1 52.7 63.0 

Day laborers 3.2 8.4 8.6 

lOO.O loo.o loo.o 

1 Rauchberg, St. Mon., xx, 391. 

^ The seven principal cities; all but two, Briinn and Cracow, having more than 
100,000 inhabitants. 

•'The German terms are Selbststandige, Angestellte, Arbeiter, Taglohner. 
" Angestellte " includes the superintendents, foremen, clerks, etc. — the higher 
personnel. 



7 HE STRUCTURE OF CITY POPULATIONS 



317 



But this apparent advantage of the cities partly disappears 
on analysis into groups of industries, which shows that the 
high percentage of employers in cities is due to small under- 
takers in trade and commerce. In manufacturing industry, 
wherein the labor problem is more acute, the percentage of 
entrepreneurs is smallest in the cities, and of workmen larg- 
est, while the cities' advantage in case of the higher em- 
ployees is minimized : ^ 







Table CXL, 














Trade and 


Professions and 




Agriculture. 


Industry. 


Commerce. 


Civil Service. 




Large Ur- 


Large Ur- Largi 


e Ur- 




Large Ur- 




cities. ban. Rural. 


cities, ban. Rural, cities. 


ban. 


Rural. 


cities. ban. Rural. 


Independen 


t. 275 262 233 


187 211 213 409 


380 


329 


707 715 871 


Employees. 


.29 42 


25 16 7 2ZO 


106 


65 


211 207 104 


Artisans • • 


. 629 6i6 670 


764 739 741 290 


280 


317 


78 76 53 


Laborers. . . 


,. 67 118 95 


24 34 39 8i 


234 


289 


422 



1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 

Thus it turns out that the growth of cities, like the growth 
of manufacturing, upon which it rests, favors the develop- 
ment of a body of artisans and factory workmen, as against 
the undertaker and employer. That the class of day labor- 
ers is relatively small in the cities is reason for rejoicing, 
though much may here depend on the methods of classifica- 
tion adopted by the census authorities. 

* Ibid,, XX, 394. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION IN CITY 
AND IN COUNTRY. 

In the preceding paragraphs, an analysis of city popula- 
tions at rest has been given — the static aspect ; it is now 
proposed to analyze city populations in motion — the 
dynamic aspect ; and the three great subjects to be discussed 
are marriages, births, and deaths. The following typical 
figures express the ratios to i,ooo of population, in Massa- 
chusetts, for the two years 1894 and 1895 • ' 

Table CXLI. 

Persons marrying. Births. Deaths. 

Boston 23.10 3I.24 23.23 

Cities 100,000-50,000 18.89 29.72 19-49 

" 50,000-25,000 18.08 • 29.00 18.0.3 

" 25,000-10,000 15-92 27.57 16.68 

Total urban 19.47 29.67 19.85 

" rural 13,77 21.76 17.38 

" State 17.68 27.19 19.07 

It is clear that such a regular progression must have ac- 
countable causes. Let us analyze them. 

1 28 th Annual Reft, of State Board of Health of Mass. for 1896, p. 826. The 
Summary of the Vital Statistics of the New England States for 1892 (p, 56) 
shows the relation of the urban and rural groups by comparing their rates with 
the New England rate as a standard of 1,000: 

Marriages. Births. Deaths. 

Urban pop 1,114 1,195 ^»°58 

Rural " 886 805 943 

(318) 



]>ja tural mo vement of popula tion 



319 



I. MARRIAGES. 

The law of population is the most difficult subject fn 
social statistics, and statisticians are not even yet agreed 
upon a law or theory of population that has universal ap- 
plication. We may begin our researches in this field with 
the statistics of marriage, which naturally lead up to those 
of births. 

In Massachusetts, the number of persons marrying to 
1,000 of the total population is smallest in rural districts, 
and, increasing with the magnitude of the dwelling-centre, 
attains its maximum in Boston. Other countries, too, have 
their largest marriage-rates in the urban populations. ^ But 
does this crude rate indicate a stronger tendency toward 
marriage in the city? Considering that the cities contain a 
relatively larger number of persons of marriageable age, 
they naturally ought to have more marriages ; ' and when the 
marriages are compared with the adult and unmarried rather 
than with the total population, the superiority of the city 
tends to disappear. 3 Only in appearance, concludes Levas- 
seur, is nuptialite greater in the city than in the country. * 
Thus, the Swedish statistics show an apparently higher mar- 

1 For England, cf. J. of St. Society (1890), 53: 267. For France, Levasseur 
(ii, 77) gives the ratios of marriages, which are here doubled to show the ratios 

of persons married : 

i860. 1885. 

Department of Seine 19.8 16.6 

Urban population 16.4 14.8 

Rural " 15.4 14.6 

France 15.8 14.8 

" Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Sociology, 98. 

' Persons marrying (1886) to 1,000 of the adult unmarried population of each 

sex (Levasseur, ii, 397) : 

Men over Women orer 

20 years. 15 years. 

France 61.7 66.0 

Paris 59.4 58.6 

* Op. cit.y ii, 86. 



320 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



riage rate for Stockholm and the urban population through- 
out the century : ^ 

1816-40. 1841-50. 1851-60. 1861-70. 1871-80. 1881-90. 

Rural 15-70 I4'56 15.CO 12.88 13.20 11.94 

Urban 15-72 14-44 16.98 14.64 16.20 iS-34 

Stockholm 16.34 14.62 18.44 15-48 18.14 17-72 

But the city rate is increased by the relatively small num- 
ber of children in urban populations; hence when the 
number of marriages in 1881-90 is compared with the adult 
population, the ratios are transformed : 

Sweden. Stockholm. 

Marriages per 1,000 men of 20-50 years 68.9 59.8 

" " " women of 20-45 years .. • 75-^ 57-° 

In England and America and perhaps other countries,^ 
however, the marriage rate remains higher in the cities even 
when based on the adult population ; ^ and Dr. Ogle put 
forth the hypothesis that the marriage-rate varies with the 
amount of employment among young women. He noticed 
that the marriage-rate among single men between the age of 
20 and 45 was highest in the rural county of Bedford, which 
is particularly distinguished for its straw-plaiting and lace 
industries, occupying many young women. His hypothesis 
that " men are more ready to marry girls or young women 
who are themselves earning money " is substantiated by the 
statistics showing the proportion of women 15-25 years old 

^ Swedish Census of 1890, Bihang, p. vii. (For title, see Table CXVI.) 

''■ See Dr. F. S. Crum's essay, " The Marriage Rate in Massachusetts," Publica- 
tions of the American Statistical Association (Dec, 1895), ^^> 33^- ^^ ^^ ^°'' 
lowing, " adult " means a person over 15 years of age : 

Persons marrying, 1885. 
The 28 cities. Rural remainder. 

Per 1,000 of total population 19.2 15.0 

" " " adult " 27.0 20.8 

" " " " marriageable population iio.i 97-^4 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



321 



industrially occupied. ^ And as a general rule this propor- 
tion is largest in the cities, with their factory operatives. 

This hypothesis also seems to afford an explanation of 
the high (refined) marriage-rate in the industrial towns of 
Massachusetts, where conditions are nearly similar to those 
in England. The cities with the highest marriage rates in 
the years 1 894 and 1 895 were : = 

Chicopee 27.3 

Boston 23.1 

Lawrence ^ 22.1 

New Bedford 21.9 

Lowell 21.4 

Chelsea 20.6 

Lynn 20.4 

Fall River 20.2 

Fitchburg 19.7 

Now it will be seen at a glance that this list includes the 
principal textile cities of Massachusetts, /. e., those cities de- 
voted to an industry that employs a large percentage of 
female labor. And in the list of textile cities appearing in 
the State census of 1895, there are only three other cities 
mentioned — North Adams, Pittsfield and Taunton, all of 
which have other and probably more important manufactur- 
ing interests. Boston, although not a textile city, offers a 
vast amount of employment to women ; Lynn is devoted to 
the boot and shoe industry ; but Chelsea, the only remain- 
ing city unaccounted for, is a Boston suburb, and no appar- 
ent reason exists for its abnormally high marriage-rate. At 
the opposite extreme are the cities and towns of Woburn, 
whose marriage-rate was 13.9; Medford, 13.2; Marlborough 
13. 1 ; Quincy, 12.8 and Peabody 12.8. Three of these 

1 " On Marriage-Rates and Marriage- Ages," J. of St, Soc. (1890), 53 : 267. 
"^ 28ih Rep. of Mass. State Board of Health, 826, 



222 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

towns are devoted to the leather and boot and shoe indus- 
tries, while Medford and Quincy are suburbs of Boston. 

The comparative statistics now presented show wide dif- 
ferences in the marriage-rate among countries and cities. As 
a rule, the tendency toward marriage appears stronger in the 
rural districts than in the cities ; but industrial cities, and 
especially cities devoted to industries that employ female 
labor, are exceptions, marriage being there more frequent 
and at an earlier age than elsewhere. ^ When, however, we 
come to the question of family life, there is no doubt that 
the cities make the more unfavorable showing. 

From the relatively small number of children, or non- 
marriageable persons in the urban population, one would 
expect that its percentage of married persons would be con- 
siderably larger than the average. On the contrary, the sta- 
tistics show the cities have abnormally large percentages of 
the unmarried. This fact is illustrated in some very old 
(1830) Swedish statistics :=" 

Urban. Rural. 

Children 275 360 

Single 367 223 

Married 267 355 

Widowed 91 62 

1,000 1,000 

It is thus found that the bachelors and spinsters as well as 
the widowed predominate in the cities, while the country has 

^On the other hand, Parisians marry later than do other Frenchman. In 1885, 
the average age at marriage (Levasseur, ii, 81) was: 

Men. Women. 

Department of Seine. . 31 years, 9 months. 27 years, 5 months. 

Urban population .... 29 " 7 " 25 " 8 " 

Rural population 29 " 3 " 24 " 8 " 

*Legoyt, p. 38, where other data are presented similar to these. 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 323 

the larger percentage of children and the married. This is 
the relation which exists in the United States to-day; thus, 
the conjugal condition of the adult population (20 years and 
over) in 1890 was — ^ 

Males. Females. 

, ^ , , , 

The 28 great United The 28 great United 

cities. States. cities. States. 

Single 362 309.5 263 199 

Married 590 638. 588 664 

Widowed 42 46.5 145 132 

Divorced 2 3 3 4 

Unknown 4 3 I i 



1,000 



1,000 



I, coo 



1,000 



The exclusion of children is necessary to statistical ac- 
curacy, as they are incapable of marriage. But it some- 
times happens that the cities, notwithstanding the large pro- 
portion of adults residing in them, still have fewer married 
people than do the rural districts. Such is the case in 
Austria:' 



Places of Single 

Less than 500 612 

500-2,000 592 

2,000-5,000 609 

5,000-10,000 627 

10,000-20,000 632 

20,000 \- 629 

Vienna 620 

All places 608 



Table CXLII. 


Widowed, divorced 




le. Married. 


or separated. 


Total. 


' 335 


53 


1,000 


! 353 


55 


1,000 


> 335 


56 


1,000 


314 


59 


1,000 


! 309 


59 


1,000 


• 305 


66 


1,000 


311 


69 


1,000 


336 


56 


1,000 



In Europe generally, with the exception of England, 



^ nth Cen., Pop., i, p. clxxxvi. 
* Rauchberg, St. Mon., xix, 135. 



324 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the percentage of married people in the cities is below 
the average : ^ 

ENGLAND. 

Number of persons married in 1,000 of each sex between the ages of 15 and 45 years. 

(Census of 1891.): 

Male. Female. 

London 1 u ..• f 464 ^Sfi 

T 1- V urban counties ■{ cZ. \.. 

Lancashire J 1 469 475 

Rutlandshire "I , .• f 388 427 

■tr r J u- y rural counties \^„ ' 

Herefordshire / 1 402 422 

In the main, the statistics of conjugal condition agree 
with the statistics of annual marriages ; in both cases Eng- 
land's urban communities show a stronger tendency toward 
marriage and home life than do her rural communities, 
while on the continent the reverse is usually true. But in 
the United States, the singular result is reached of a rela- 
tively high urban marriage-rate and at the same time a 
relatively small proportion of married people in the cities. 
Inasmuch as the marriage-rate has been high in Massa- 
chusetts cities during a long period of time, one would 
naturally expect that the proportion of married people as 
revealed in the census would be large; but just as the 28 
great cities of the country have fewer married people than 
the United States as a whole, so has Boston fewer than 
Massachusetts. ' 

^ For France (Levasseur, ii, 390) : 

Population between ages of 20 and 60 years. 

Male. Female. 

Paris. France. Paris. France. 

Single 385 348 314 270 

Married 570 609.5 5^6 640 

Widowed 43 42 117 89.5 

Divorced 2 .5 3-5 

1,000 1,000.0 1,000 i,ooo.c 

^Of the population 20 years old and over in 1890, the following percentages 

were married (^iitk Cen., Fop., i, 851, 888) : 

Males. Females. 

Massachusetts 61. i 55.8 

Boston 55.3 50.5 

Of the adult male population, 32.8 per cent, were single in Massachusetts, 38. i 
per cent, in Boston. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



325 



A number of explanations may be offered for such an ap- 
parent contradiction. For one thing, rural emigration takes 
away most of the bachelors and maids, leaving in the 
country a population with a large proportion of married 
people ; and at the same time that marriages are compara- 
tively infrequent, social circumstances may be such as to 
impel rural couples to go to the cities for the performance 
of the marriage ceremony. Moreover, in many German 
cities it is found that city young people often remove to a 
suburb shortly after marriage in order to begin house-keep- 
ing in a cottage of their own ; ^ the marriage is thus credited 
to the city, while the census counts the married couple in 
the suburb. The most probable explanation, however, is 
that city marriages take place at an earlier age than country 
marriages, where the city marriage-rate is the higher of the 
two, and that they are dissolved sooner by the relatively 
high mortality to which males are subject in the city. This 
would account for the larger number of widows in urban 
populations. Divorce is also more frequent in the city. By 
the re-marriage of widowed and divorced persons, the city 
marriage-rate is raised, without any real addition to the 
number of married people, as compared with the rural com- 
munity where the first marriage would have continued longer. 
If the city of Copenhagen, for example, be compared with a 
Danish rural district (Fiinen), it will be found that Copen- 
hagen has the higher marriage-rate. But it is due simply 
to early marriages, for by the time the age of 45 years is 
reached, Copenhagen has relatively fewer married people 
than has Fiinen. The rural population marries later, but of 
all the males who reach the age of 45, and of all the females 
who reach the age of 35, more are married in the rural than 
in the urban population.^ Now, whether people marry early 

' Briickner, Allg. Stat. Archiv, i, 662. 

^ Rubin and Westergaard, Statistik der Ehen. 



226 ^-^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

or marry late depends chiefly on their foresight and self- 
control ; as a rule it is the higher social classes, the wealthier 
or at least the propertied classes, which possess these quali- 
ties. And in proportion as they predominate in a city, will 
the city's marriage-rate be low and its birth-rate also. With 
this brief indication of the theory of population, it may be 
reserved for more careful discussion in connection with birth- 
rates and the fecundity of marriage. 

The explanation advanced in the eleventh census for the 
relatively small number of married people in the urban pop- 
ulation is its peculiar composition as regards the native and 
foreign elements.'' Now as a matter of fact, the largest sin- 
gle element in the population of the 28 great cities consid- 
ered, is the foreign element, which contains a larger propor- 
tion of married people than any other element, and so far as 
race enters into the question, it is the native white element 
in which the greatest difTerence between city and country is 
found. A similar difference, explained very likely by the 
number of domestic servants in the city, is found among the 
negroes, who, however, constitute a much smaller element of 
the aggregate population of the 28 cities. On the whole, it 
appears to be the postponement of marriage on the part of 
native Americans that tends to reduce the proportion of the 
married in the city below that in the country. 

In Austria such a postponement of marriage in the cities 
is shown by an admirable compilation of statistics, which can 
be only partially reproduced here : 

* Pop., \, p. clxxxvi. The facts : 

Twenty-eight Great Cities. United States. 

Males. Per cent, married. Per cent, married. 

M. F. M. F. 

Foreign white i.357»779 67.3 62.7 65.9 68.1 

Native white, native parents . . 780,947 57.1 58.0 66,1 67.9 

Native white, foreign parents . . 656,053 45.6 54,0 48.6 58.8 

Negro 128,145 59.5 51.9 69.0 65.0 

Aggregate 2,952,238 59.0 58.8 63.8 66,3 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 327 

Table CXLIII.i 

Number of women married among each 1,000 females of the age 

Places with a pop. of ii-ao. 21-30. 31-40. 41-50. 51-60. 61-70. 70+. All ages. 

Less than 500 .... 28 482 757 738 611 425 221 330 

500-2,cxx) 47 566 798 748 598 405 207 347 

2,000-5,000 45 532 744 694 552 378 197 328 

5-10,000 32 465 696 655 531 353 176 311 

10-20,000 23 431 686 643 513 333 164 305 

20,000 -J- 19 349 621 618 490 309 139 298 

Austria 36 495 745 714 578 392 199 331 

Number of bachelors among each iooo males of the age 
Places with 

a population of 0-10. 11-20. 21-30. 31-40. 41-50. 51-60. 61-70. 70+. All ages. 

Less than 500 . 1,000 1,000 677 238 149 129 128 121 627 

500-2,000 1,000 999 602 164 101 89 86 91 611 

2,000-5,000... 1,000 1,000 645 207 140 123 113 loi 631 

5,000-10,000 .. 1,000 1,000 734 257 172 135 127 108 656 

10,000-20,000. 1,000 1,000 755 255 158 133 123 116 661 

20,000+ 1,000 1,000 799 310 173 134 117 113 657 

Austria 1,000 1,000 677 219 135 114 no 107 628 

It thus appears that among the women, the married in 
every age group become relatively fewer as the size of the 
dwelling-place increases ; and the corresponding table, not 
here reproduced, shows the same thing for men, although in 
the advanced ages the differences between the various cate- 
gories of towns are much less marked than they are in the 
lower age classes. The second table shows that in the higher 
age classes the cities have no more unmarried men than the 
small towns, a result not irreconcilable with the foregoing 
statement, as the widowed and divorced, not the married, 
absorb the difference. Rauchberg's conclusion for Austria 
is of wide application : " The marriage-rate, the age at mar- 
riage, the preponderance of unmarried among the migrants 
and the direction of migration (toward the cities) work to- 
gether to raise the participation in married life, especially in 
the younger years, to a higher level in the villages and coun- 
try places than in the middle-sized and large cities." ' 

^ St. Mon., xix, 136. ' Ibid., 137. 



328 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The influence of migration upon marriage-rates is readily- 
seen. Rural emigration, being predominantly of young 
unmarried persons, leaves a large married population in the 
country. But it is doubtful if it materially diminishes the 
percentage of married in the city. Frankfort statistics 
(1890) afford the following example:^ 

Female population over 20 years of age 

Born Boni 

Frankforters. outside. 

Single 35.2 40.9 

Married 47.5 47.0 

Widowed and divorced 17.3 1 2. 1 

ico.o 1 00.0 

The young people who go from the village or farm to the 
city cannot, to be sure, marry at once, for they are obliged 
to obtain a position in the ranks of industry that will enable 
them to earn a living and support a family ; but this requires 
only a few years. Hence, as years pass, the percentage of 
the unmarried in the city steadily diminishes and approaches 
the rural percentage, as already noted in Table CXLIII. 
That the two percentages do not coincide seems to be due, 
not to the immigrants to the city, but to the native citizens 
themselves, who are less inclined to marry than the immi- 
grants, as appears in the following statistics from the Berlin 
census of 1885 : 

Per cent, married of all over "^ 

Male. Female. 

20 yrs. 30 yrs. 20 yrs. 30 yrs. 

Berlin-born 55.6 77.6 49.6 57.8 

Born elsewhere 58.8 79,5 53.8 62.6 

Immigrants within preceding 

5 years 30.7 66.9 37.0 51.9 

Other immigrants 74.6 82.2 60.5 64.7 

Comparing the city-born with those born outside, it will 
be seen that the proportion of married people among the 

1 Bleicher, p. 7. » Allg. Si. Ar., i, 640. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



329 



latter is 3 or 4 per cent, higher than among the former, and 
this notwithstanding the large number of immigrants of 
youthful age, among whom the percentage of the married is 
necessarily low. As a result the proportion of the married 
among the older immigrants is extremely high (74.6 and 
60.5) as compared with the Berlin-born. 

Nor is the difference merely the result of difiference in age 
classification, for closer analysis shows that only in the lower 
age groups (below the age of 30) is the percentage of the 
married greater among the Berlin-born than among the 
immigrants.^ The latter, moreover, have a larger percen- 
tage of second marriages than the natives. The strong ten- 
dency of immigrants toward marriage is, perhaps, to be 
attributed to lack of prudence and foresight, as compared 
with the better-fed city people. 

Mention has just been made of the heavy percentages of 
city marriages dissolved by divorce. This does not contra- 
dict the statement in the Eleventh Census that the " propor- 
tion of divorced persons in the cities is less than that in the 
country at large ;"== for many persons who are divorced re- 
marry and are then no longer counted among the divorced. 
The evidence is conclusive that in Europe the number of 
divorces is three or four times as great in the cities as in the 
rural parts. 3 In France the peasantry, constituting one-half 

' Bruckner, Ibid., i, 641, note i. 

' Rep. on Pop., i, p. clxxxvii. As a matter of fact, the census enumeration of 
divorced persons is acknowledged to be extremely defective. 

*Cf. Korosi's Statisiiques des grandes Villes, and J. Eertillon's Ehide demogra- 
phique du divorce et de la separation de corps (p. 55), from which the follo^ving 

are taken : 

Divorces per 100 marriages in 

Brussels 1871-73 12.4 Belgium 3.5 

La Hague.. 1865-74 11. i Netherlands 4.6 

Munich ... 1868-74 15.3 Bavaria 5.0 

Stockholm. 1864-73 28.1 Sweden 6.4 

Copenhagen. 1 87C-74 29.2 Denmark 12.6 



330 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the population, contributes only 7 per cent, of the divorces. 
The number of divorces (per 100,000 inhabitants) in France 
was as follows in 1885 : Department of the Seine (Paris), 47 ; 
urban population, 19; rural population, 3.5/ In the United 
States the evidence against the cities is less conclusive, but 
it justifies Hon. Carroll D. Wright in stating " that not only 
is the increase of divorce proportionately greater in the cities 
than in the country, but the ratio of married couples to each 
divorce is also greater."^ Any marked divergence from this 
rule may partly be due, as Professor Willcox suggests,^ to 
the presence of a foreign-born Catholic population in the 
cities, and partly to the more approximate equality of the 
rural and urban populations in this country as regards the 
reception of new ideas than is the case in Europe with its 
rural population composed of peasants. 

II. FECUNDITY. 

The fruitfulness of marriage is commonly expressed in 
the ratio of annual births to each 1,000 of total population, — 
the birth-rate. In former times the cities had a considerably 
lower birth-rate than the country, which was explained by 
the statisticians as the result of late marriages and limitations 
on the size of the family. " More wants," says Siissmilch in 
I76i,"and increased splendor, with higher prices for the 
necessaries of life, keep men from marrying in the cities." * 

^Levasseur, ii, 91. 

' Report, as Commissioner of Labor, on Marriage and Divorce in the United 
States, 1867-86, p. 162. Cf. tables on pp. 159-161. 

* The Divorce Problem, Columbia Studies, i, 33. Professor Willcox also notes 
that the divorce rate in the District of Columbia (an urban population) is nearly 
three times that of the adjacent commonwealths — a ratio which approaches 
European conditions. (^Ibid., 39.) 

^ Die gottliche Ordnung (2d ed.), i, 257. Siissmilch's statistics of births in 
city and country are not very satisfactory; perhaps the rates 42 (i birth to 24 
living) and 36 (i: 28) for the rural and urban populations, respectively, would 
express his opinion, if reduced to figures. (Cf. i, 225.) He estimates the num- 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



331 



In another epoch-making work on population statistics^ a 
century later, a countryman of Siissmilch's could present 
statistics showing that, in most European countries, the ur- 
ban birth-rate exceeded the rural. Only Sweden and Prus- 
sia were exceptions, and as indicated in Table CXVI, Sweden 
ceased to be an exception at the very time Wappaus was 
writing. At the present day the crude birth-rate is almost 
universally higher in city than in country,'' and, indeed, as 
shown in the Massachusetts statistics given in the introduc- 
tory treatment of the movement of population, the birth-rate 
increases with the populousness of cities. 

The most obvious explanation of a high birth-rate would 
be a large proportion of women in the child-bearing period. 
The cities have a larger percentage of such persons ; hence 
for this reason, and not because of greater fecundity of 
city women, do the cities often have a high birth-rate. The 
following table shows, in the ideal or normal rate, that the 
fecundity of women should be greatest in the cities on ac- 

ber of children to a marriage at 3.5 in the city and 4in the whole country (i, 175). 
The birth rate in large cities fluctuated enormously in previous centuries because 
of frequent epidemics. 

^ Die allgemeine Bevolkerungsstaiistikhy yE. Wappaus (Leipzig, 1861), ii,48i. 

^ In Prussia there is still some difference between city and country : * 

Urban. Rural. 

1849-55 37-98 40.6 

1856-61 38.1 40.9 

1862-67 39'0 41.2 

1867-86 39.3 40.4 

25 great cities 
Prus.sia. Germany. of Germany. 

1861-64 40-8 •••• 36.9 

1864-67 40.4 .... 38.7 

1867-71 38.5 .... 38.3 

1871-75 414 414 41-9 

1875-80 40.9 40.8 42.1 

18SC-85 38.9 38.5 37.4 

* Bruckner, Allg. Siat. Arckiv, i, 160-1. 



332 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



count of the favorable age- distribution; following the crude, 
or uncorrected, birth-rate, is the true rate, — for both legiti- 
mate and illegitimate births (1890-91) :^ 



Table CXLIV. 

To 100 women aged 16-50. 



Births to 1,000 inhabitants. AH Married: Single, widowed, 

4 * 1 women: legiti- etc.: illegiti- 

Normal. Actual. total births. mate births. mate births. 

16 great cities 42.4 35.9 12. i 22.8 2.6 

Cities 20-100,000 39.4 37.9 14.5 26.7 2.2 

Cities under 20,000 .. . 37.3 35.6 14.4 26.3 2.2 

All cities 38.9 36.3 13.5 25.1 2.4 

Rural 38.2 40.0 16.8 28.9 2.5 



Prussia 38.5 38.5 15.4 27.4 2.5 

These figures plainly show that fecundity is greatest 
among the women of the rural districts of Prussia, and stead- 
ily decreases as the dwelling-centre becomes more popu- 
lous, — except that the middle-sized cities show no decrease 
over the smaller cities. Illegitimate births, it may be 
noticed incidentally, are relatively more numerous in the 
country than in the city, although the larger proportion of 
maidens and widows in the city would lead us to expect the 
contrary. In the great cities, indeed, the percentage of ille- 
gitimates increases, but here there is the additional factor of 
maternity hospitals and clinics which receive a great many 
women from outside, — the majority of such women, it is un- 
necessary to add, being unmarried. 

The Prussian statistics hardly justify us in making the 

^ The computations for the ideal or normal rate were made by Dr. Bleicher of 
Frankfort, and will be found in his paper on "Die Eigenthiimlichkeiten der 
stadtischen Natalitats und Mortalitatsverhaltnisse," in the report of the proceed- 
ing of the 8th International Congress of Hygiene and Demography at Budapest 
(1894), vii, 468. The other statistics appear in his tables, and are also to be 
found in Bleicher, 267. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



333 



generalization that city marriages are less fruitful than 
country marriages. Indeed, the opposite is true in several 
countries, if the great cities be excepted. Thus, in Denmark 
the average annual number of births (1880-9) to 1,000 
women, aged 16-50, married and unmarried, respectively, 
was:^ 

Legitimate. Illegitimate. 

Copenhagen 234.1 48.5 

Other towns 259.6 23.1 

Rural communes 245.9 24.3 

Denmark 246.3 28,6 

Additional examples from European statistics might be 
given,^ but the most pertinent one is found at home. Dr. F. 
S. Crum has shown that in Massachusetts the fecundity of 
marriage increases with the density of the population, and 
reaches its maximum in the largest city: 3 

' Rubin, " Population, Natalite et Mortalite du Royaume de Danemark," Int. 
Cong, of Hygiene, 1894, Proceedings, vii, 489. 

^ In Saxony the number of births to 100 women of child-bearing age (1879-83) 
in the five government districts is as follows {^Zeitschrift des K. Sachsischen Stat. 
Bureaus, 1885) : 

Legitimate. Illegitimate. 

(Rural 28.0 5.9 

Urban 28.2 4.2 

Dresden city 21.9 4.6 

(Rural 30 4 6.9 

Urban 31.9 8.2 

Leipzig city 28.3 3.6 

Zittau {^^"^^1 ^9.6 7.3 

*- Urban 20.8 5.0 

Bautzen j ^'^'^^^ ^^-S 6.7 

I Urban 23.9 3.4 

{Rural 32.8 9.4 

Urban 26.3 8.5 

Chemnitz city 26.0 4.8 

'"The Birth-Rate in Massachusetts," Quar. Jour, of Economics, xi, 259. 



334 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table CXLV. 



Deaths of chil- No. of surviv- Percentage of 

dren aged o-i year, ors at one increase (or 

Births per i,ooo married Per i,ooo Per i,ooo year per loo decrease — ) 

Pop. per No. of women. total living married in pop., 

sq. mile. towns. Total. Native. Foreign, deaths. births. women. 1875-85. 

0-24 39 59-7 57-1 64-5 97-4 106.6 5.34 —13.9 

25-49 64 62.9 58.2 89.1 103.7 121. 5 5.53 —13-3 

50-99 103 74.1 61.5 117. 9 I40-3 126.6 6.45 +2.2 

100-199 44 83.0 67.2 iig.o 148.9 122.5 7-28 +6.3 

300-499 53 106.3 87-6 133-2 193-1 135-3 9-19 -fiS-9 

500-999 22 106.0 84.1 146.3 194-3 136.3 9.13 +37-0 

J, 000-4,999 ... . 19 120.0 86.0 153.0 249.7 175-3 9-91 +29.5 

5,000 + 4 124.0 gg.o 139.0 229.9 185.8 10.10 +17.0 

In the first place, it should be observed that the corres- 
pondence between density and populousness is close. The 
four cities in the densest group are Boston, and its three 
principal suburbs, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea; and all 
the thirteen cities which, in 1885, contained 25,000+ inhabi- 
tants are found in the last two groups of the table. Roughly 
speaking, the last group signifies Boston, the second densest 
group, the industrial cities. 

In the second place, the table shows that the high birth- 
rate of the large cities is not solely due to difference in race, 
as has often been asserted ; for native women, as well as 
foreign, are more productive in the cities, the only irregu- 
larity in the progression being in the group of towns with a 
density of 200-500. 

In the third place, it is to be remarked that the high birth- 
rate of Massachusetts cities is not accounted for, as is some- 
times urged,' by the fact that " in the cities there is a larger 
proportion of population between the ages of fourteen and 
fifty." Calculations by the present writer show that whereas 
the number of births to 1,000 women aged 18-45 years was 
about no in Massachusetts in 1894-5, it was about 125 in 
Boston.'' True, the Boston women marry younger than do 

^Annals of American Acad,, v, 87. 

' It might be objected that the percentages given above do not distinguish the 
native and foreign mothers, and that the predominance of the latter gives Boston 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



335 



the women of Massachusetts generally, and Boston conse- 
quently has a larger proportion of its married women in the 
age-group 20-30 years, the most fertile period of woman's 
life, than Massachusetts has ; the percentages being 27 and 
24.1 respectively.^ But such a slight difference cannot alone 
explain the relatively high birth-rate of Boston. 

The evidence as to relative fecundity of city and country 
women is therefore conflicting. Heretofore the European 
statisticians have explained the relatively high birth-rate 
(crude) in cities as a result either of favorable age distribu- 
tion or of more illegitimacy. Wappaus, for example, showed 
that the number of children to a marriage was almost invari- 
ably higher in country than in the city; but he found a 
larger number of illegitimate children in the cities, which 
fact, in connection with the more frequent marriages in the 
city, gave the latter a higher birth-rate.^ At the present 

its high rate. The probabilities are against this; in Boston 70.5 per cent, of the 
ioreign and 73.7 per cent, of the native married women are under 45 ; in the rest 
of Massachusetts the percentages are 66.0 and 64.6 respectively {^iith Cens., Pop., 
i, 851, 888). 

'Calculated from utk Cens., Pop., i, pp. 851, 888. In Prussia the respective 
percentages for cities of 20,000+ and rural districts are 23.82 and 20.35 ! '" Bavariat 
for town and country, 21.94 'ind 15.49 (Cf. Zeitschrift des K'dnigl. Bayerischen 
Statis. Bureaus, 1892, p. 309. 

- By deducting the number of deaths of infants under 5 years, Wappaus was able 
to show a still larger fruitfulness of marriage among countrymen. A portion of 
his table is reproduced herewith (Cf. AllgemeineBevolkerungsstatistik, 11,483-4) : 

Table CXLVI. 

Children to a Same at end of Percentage of illegitimate 

marriage. fifth year. births in total. 

City. Country. City. Country. City. Country. 

France 3.16 3.28 2.03 2.34 15.13 4.24 

Netherlands 3.91 4.32 2.49 3.07 7.71 2.84 

Belgium 3.80 4.17 ... ... 14-49 5-88 

Sweden 2.99 4.19 1.83 3.16 27.44 7.50 

Denmark 3.04 3.34 2.14 2.58 16.05 10.06 

Saxony 4.60 4.13 2.77 2.64 15-39 14.64 

Prussia 4.00 4.44 2.56 3.13 9.80 6.60 

(Saxony 4.30 4.22 2.59 2.81 15-34 "'-58) 

Saxony is the only exception to the general rule, and Wappaus accounts for it 



336 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

day it is not so generally true that the larger families are 
found in the rural districts. In France, indeed, the proposi- 
tion remains true, as the following comparison (from Levas- 
seur ii, 398), indicates: 

Families having (1886) Dcpt. of Seine. France. 

child 323 2CO 

1 child 276 244 

2 children 201 218 

3 " 105 145 

4 " 53 90 

5 or more children 12 103 

1,000 1,000 

But in the United States, on the other hand, the average 
number of persons to a family (4.93) is smaller than it is in 
the 28 great cities of 1890 (4.99). The difference is really 
greater than appears, because the United States average is 
raised by the large families of negroes in the South, which 
contains only four of the 28 great cities.^ Comparing the 
ten leading cities with the commonwealths to which they 
belong, it will be found that the difference is nearly always 
in favor of the city : =" 



by the fact that, in this industrial kingdom, manufacturing industries had spread 
from the towns into the open country and villages. If the population be divided 
into industrial and agricultural groups, instead of city and country, the result will 
agree with the other countries. (See the last line of the table.) 

' Cf . the following : 

North Atlantic States 4.69 

North Central " 4.86 

Western States 4.88 

South Atlantic States 5.25 

South Central " 5.30 

"^ nth Cens., Pop., vol. i, p. cucff. The census interpretation of the decline in 
the average size of a family is open to criticism. 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF FOPULA TION -^^-i^'j 

City. State. 

New York 4.84 4.59 

Chicago 4.99 4,92 

Philadelphia 5,10 4.95 

Brooklyn 4.72 4.59 

St. Louis 4.92 5.07 

Boston 5.00 4.67 

Baltimore 5.01 5.16 

San Francisco 5.69 4.92 

Cincinnati 4.67 4.68 

Cleveland 4,93 4.68 

The statistics of families, however, are not absolutely trust- 
worthy information regarding the fruitfulness of marriage. 
The census definition of family is necessarily loose, and in- 
cludes the inmates of an hotel, an asylum, etc. ; and many 
other factors have to be considered. A possible explanation 
is the presence of so many foreigners in the great cities, 
amounting to 32 per cent, of their total population as against 
1 5 per cent, for the United States. That the foreigners have 
larger families than the Americans is well-known, and is 
demonstrated anew by the Massachusetts statistics just re- 
ferred to. But these latter statistics show that the native, as 
well as the foreign married women, have more children in 
the cities than in the country. 

In fact, there seems to be no direct connection between 
agglomeration and fecundity. In Berlin, Leipzig and Mun- 
ich, three of the four leading cities of Germany, the refined 
birth-rate is below the average of the twenty-six great cities, 
while in the smallest six cities of this class the birth-rate is 
above the average. And among the cities of equal size, 
even in the same country, notable differences in the birth-rate 
are familiar; factory towns generally having a high birth- 
rate without any advantage in the age distribution. The 
conditions affecting the fruitfulness of marriage are so nume- 
rous and complicated that statisticians and social philoso- 
phers are still in dispute as to their relative influence. The 



338 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



theory which at present commands the largest body of ad- 
herents is the one set forth in Professor Fetter's Versuch zu 
einer Bevolkerungslehre, which, it is hoped, may be put by 
the author into more easily accessible form for American 
readers. Substantially the same theory, however, is pro- 
pounded in Professor Hadley's new work. According to 
this theory, the birth-rate (as the expression of fecundity) is 
not dependent on the peculiarities of population groups, nor 
even the general economic condition of the population ; but 
both the rate of increase and the economic condition depend 
on a third factor, — the economic foresight and prudence of 
the individual. " High comfort and low birth-rate are com- 
monly associated, because comfort is made to depend upon 
prudence. Let the comfort be made independent of pru- 
dence, as in the case of the pauper or criminal, and the birth- 
rate tends to increase rather than diminish . . , It is not 
that social ambition in zV.?^//" constitutes a greater preventive 
check to population than the need of subsistence ; but that 
the need of subsistence is felt by all men alike, emotional as 
well as intellectual, while social ambition stamps the man or 
the race that possesses it as having reached the level of in- 
tellectual morality. Ethical selection can therefore operate 
on the latter class as it does not on the former. The intel- 
lectual man has possibilities of self-restraint which the emo- 
tional man has not."^ 

One of the statistical proofs that the birth-rate diminishes 
with each advance in civilization was furnished by Miss J. L. 
Brownell in a study of the American statistics in the Tenth 
Census. Miss Brownell took as statistical indices of civiliza- 
tion the percentage of all deaths (from known causes) that 
were due to nervous diseases, the density of population, the 
intensity of the cultivation of the soil as indicated by the 

^ Hadley, Economics, pp. 48-9. 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 339 

value of agricultural products per acre, and the value of 
manufactured products per capita. In comparing the forty- 
seven states and territories, Miss Brownell found that a low 
birth-rate generally accompanied high percentages of the 
other factors, and vice versa. Her table ^ may be summarized 
as follows : 

Value of agri- Value of mf. 

Deaths from ner- cultural pro- products per 

vous diseases. Density. ducts per acre. capita. 

Coherences with birth-rate 8 8 16 7 

Opposition to birth-rate 39 39 31 40 

Total States and Territories 47 47 47 47 

In order to ascertain the relation of the birth-rate to 
agglomeration of population, Miss Brownell's comparison 
has been extended by the writer. In the following list the 
plus or minus mark signifies that the rate or percentage for 
the State specified is above or below the average for the 
United States; the asterisk simply denotes coherences:" 

Table CXLVII. 

Density of Percentages of 

Birth-rate. pop- pop- urban. 

1 . Alabama -\- — — 

2. Arizona — — * — * 

3. Arkansas -|- — — 

4. California — — * -j- 

5. Colorado — — * -|- 

6. Connecticut — -|- -|- 

7. Dakota -f — — 

8. Delaware — + -|- 

9. Dist. of Col — -f- 4- 

10. Florida -|- — — 

11. Georgia 4- — — 

1 2. Idaho + — — 

13. Illinois -)- -f -j- 

^ Annals Amer. Acad., v, 74. 

'The percentage of urban population for the United States in 1880 was 21.47, 
the line being drawn at towns of io,ooo-f . The authority is iiih Cen., Stat, of 
Cities, p. I. 



340 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Birth-rate. 

14. Indiana — 

15. Iowa + 

1 6. Kansas + 

1 7. Kentucky + 

iS. Louisiana -\- 

19. Maine — 

20. Maryland — 

21. Massachusetts — 

22. Michigan — 

23. Minnesota \- 

24. Mississippi + 

25. Missouri + 

26. Montana ■\- 

27. Nebraska + 

28. Nevada — 

29. New Hampshire — 

30. New Jersey — 

31. New Mexico + 

32. New York — 

33. North Carolina + 

34. Ohio — 

35. Oregon -)- 

36. Pennsylvania — 

37. Rhode Island — 

38. South Carohna + 

39. Tennessee + 

40. Texas + 

41. Utah + 

42. Vermont — 

43. Virginia -j- 

44. Washington + 

45. West Virginia -j- 

46. Wisconsin -\- 

47. Wyoming -}- 



Density of 


Percentages of 


pop. 


pop. urban. 


+ 


♦ 



+* 



+■• 



+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


—■ 



+ 


—■ 


-1- 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+ 


+* • 


— 


+* 





+ 


__ 


+* 


— 



In 39 out of 47 cases, a high birth-rate is opposed to the 
concentration of population ; where a large proportion of the 
population is in cities, the birth-rate is low, and vice versa. 
The States in which there are coherences are Arizona, Indi- 
ana, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Ver- 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 



341 



mont, with both rates below the average of the United States ; 
and Louisiana, with both rates above the average. 

The theory of population herein adopted is, in brief, that 
a declining birth-rate accompanies an advancing civilization.^ 
In so far as cities represent the highest culture and comfort 
of a country, just so far will they have a low birth-rate and 
families below the average size. Now, in the past, the classes 
devoted to manufactures and to commerce have had radically 
different standards of living. Under the factory system a 
man marries early because, with female and child-labor in 
demand, his family soon becomes a help rather than a bur- 
den. We have but lately seen that in both England and the 
United States (Massachusetts), marriage is most frequent in 
towns where women can find employment. 

Dr. Ernst Engel was probably the first statistician to ad- 
vance statistical data in favor of the proposition that it is 
chiefly the occupation rather than the mere association of 
people in large or small dwelling centres which causes the 
difference in fertility of city and country women.^ In a 
thorough analysis of births in various groups of the popula- 
tion of Saxony, for the decade 1840-49, he demonstrated 
that the birth-rate in towns 91 to 100 per cent, of whose 

' Additional statistical proofs of this theory consist in compilations showing 
that the birth-rate in large cities diminishes as one goes from the poor to the rich 
quarters, and that the age at marriage increases, and size of family diminishes, as 
one passes from the classes low in the social scale to the responsible mercantile 
and professional classes. Cf. Fetter, op. cit.; Levasseur, ii, 398, and iii, 218; 
Charles Booth on the birth-rate in London districts, your, of St. Soc, 1893; crit- 
icism by R H. Hooker, ibid., Ix, 753; Brownell, " The Significance of a Decreas- 
ing Birth-Rate," in Annals of the Amer. Acad, of Pol. and Soc. Sc, v (with 
references); Billings, "The Diminishing Birth-Rate in the United States," 
Forum, June, 1893; Edson, "American Life and Physical Deterioration," in 
North Amer. Review, Oct., 1893. A. very good summary is given by Prof. Mar- 
shall in the third edition of his Principles of Economics, p. 263 ff. And see 
especially Tallqvist, La Tendance a une moindre Feconditi des Marriages, and 
Rubin- Westergaard, Statistik der Ehen. 

^ Cf. Wappaus, op. cit., ii, 481, and Table CXLVI, supra. 



342 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



population was devoted to agricultural industry was 30 per 
1000, and in towns where 91 to 100 per cent, of the popula- 
tioo was engaged in manufacturing and commerce, 48.4 per 
1000.^ English statisticians, moreover, long since pointed 
out the high birth-rate peculiar to mining and industrial 
districts.^ In Germany, the cities which indisputably have 
the largest proportion of births to child-bearing women, are 
the purely industrial cities of the Rhine-Westphalian dis- 
trict.3 On the other hand, the commercial cities, with their 
greater wealth, comfort and culture, have the lowest birth- 
rate. 

What effect has migration cityward exercised on the urban 

' Statis, Mitteilungen aus d, Konigr. Sachsen, herausgeg. vom Statis. Bureau 
des Minist. des Innern, Bewegung der Bevolkerung, etc., in d. yahren, 1834-jo, 
Dresden, 1852, Introd., pp. 20, 56. (Also privately published under the XK'iS.Q Die 
Bewegung der Bevolkerung im Konigr, Sachsen, etc.: ein Beitrag zur Pkysio- 
logie der Bevolkerung, vom E. Engel, Dresden, 1854.) .... Taking the entire 
population, the standard birth-rate of Saxony was 41.0; of the towns which were 
predominantly agricultural, 38.8; of the towns predominantly industrial and com- 
mercial, 42.2. 

^Cf. Newsholme, Vital Statistics, 57. 

' Bruckner, Allg. Stat. Archiv, i, 1 62. Bruckner's comparisons are based on 
the crude birth-rate, but inasmuch as the Rhine cities have a small stream of im- 
migration, it is fair to infer that the proportion of adult women is not unduly 
large, as indeed proves to be the case. Bruckner's study covers, for most of the 
German Grossstddte, the period 1861-85, and his grouping of the cities according 
to birth-rate is copied below. Those familiar with German industrial conditions 
will recognize the identity of the first group with the factory industries, that of 
the third with commerce : 

High birth-rate. Medium birth-rate. Lov/ birth-rate. 

Chemnitz. Danzig. Strassburg. 

Barmen. Breslau. Dresden. 

Elberfeld. Cologne. Hanover. 

Krefeld. Halle. Konigsberg. 

Altona, Dusseldorf. Bremen. 

Aachen. Stuttgart. Stettin. 

Magdeburg. Nuremberg. Leipzig. 

Berlin. Hamburg. Frankfort. 

Munich. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



343 



birth-rate? In many countries the greater fecundity of 
women in industrial centres has been explained by the fact 
that, one or two generations back, the workmen came from 
rural districts, and naturally from the largest families, not all 
of whom could be provided for out of the family estate. In 
other words, the urban immigrants were children of produc- 
tive women, and fecundity is an hereditary quality.' Capt. 
John Graunt's authority was cited in support of the theory ; 
but when he speaks of "breeders " migrating to London he 
seems to be referring rather to women of marriageable age. 
In the United States, especially in New England, the high 
birth-rate of industrial centres is largely due to the fertility 
of the women of French Canadian and Irish stock ; but aside 
from the element of race, the determining influence on the 
birth-rate is social and psychological, rather than physiologi- 
cal. Whatever their capabilities, the rural emigrants have 
small families when they have once attained a certain stand- 
ard of life adherent to the higher social classes. 

III. DEATH RATES. 

The discussion of mortality is not so beset with statistical 
difficulties as are the subjects of births and marriages ; for it 
is almost everywhere true that people die more rapidly in 
cities than in rural districts. The statistics of deaths already 
incidentally introduced do not, therefore, require augmenta- 
tion, for they are typical of all countries. To render 
clearer the relations of population-centres to mortality, the 
following ratios have been computed from The Vital Statis- 
tics of New England ( 1892, p. 57), which are regarded as 
equal to the European statistics in accuracy : 

' This is urged with force by Ziegler, Die Naturwhsenschaft und die socialde- 
mokratische Theorie, 147. 



344 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Ratios to the New England rate taken as ioo: 
Cities. 

I00,O0O-(- Il6 

50,000-100,000 1 10 

25,000-50,000 105 

10,000-25,000 95 

Total urban 106 

" rural 94 

The death-rate is the lowest in the rural parts and steadily 
increases with the size of the city. Further, it is to be ob- 
served that these crude rates are too favorable to the cities 
in that they do not take into account the larger proportionate 
number of people of healthy ages residing in the cities, as 
set forth in a preceding paragraph on age classification. 

The following is a comparison between the actual death- 
rates with the rates that would prevail in Prussia, if all groups 
of population had the same mortality at the same ages : 

Table CXLVIII. 

Deaths per 1,000 population. 

In 1890-91.' With uniform mortality 

Prussia 23.5 23.5 

Rural 23.4 26.7 

Urban 23.6 24.4 

Cities under 20,000 24.2 25.9 

" of 20,000-100,000 23.5 23.5 

" " 100,000+ 22.8 22.6 

That is to say, the age constitution of the rural popula- 
tion is such that if the same mortality prevailed at each age 
as prevails in the city, its death-rate would be much higher 
(26.7) than the urban rate (24.4) ; whereas, actually, the 
rural rate is the lower of the two (23.4 as against 23.6). 
The smaller cities make a good showing, but the large cities 
(ioo,ooo-f ) have a higher death-rate than they should have. 

These statistics controvert the long-current dictum that 
mortality always increases in the same ratio with density of 

' Bleicher, 268-9. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



345 



population, and the still more refined rule of Dr. Farr's that 
the mortality of a district is approximately equal to the sixth 
root of its density/ But the only satisfactory method of 
contrasting urban and rural mortality is to compare the mor- 
tality at different ages. In the United States such a com- 
parison results as follows:^ 

' This hypothesis never gained general acknowledgment, and in recent reports 
of the Registrar-General of England it is abandoned. But there still exists in the 
United States and France, as well as in England, a close connection between 
mortality and density. Thus the Supplemettt to the ^^th Annual Report of the 
Registrar- General (Part i, p. xlvii), divides the population into 15 groups, in- 
creasing in density from 138 to 19,584 persons to the square mile, and in mor- 
tality from 14.75 '^^ 3°'70 (crude death-rates; the corrected rates being respec- 
tively 12,7 and 33.0) 

The American Statistics (^iith Cens., Soc. Stat, of Cities, p. 7) : 

No. of Pop. per Persons to each Death- 
Cities of cities. acre. dwelling. rate. 

10-15,000 41 2.43 5.45 17.86 

15-25,000 39 2.79 5.85 19.45 

25-50,000 40 4.67 6.06 21.81 

50-100,000 25 9.04 6.28 22.43 

ioo,ooo-|- 28 I5.I5 7'64 23.28 

Total 173 8.73 7.05 22.62 

The French Statistics {^Statistique sanitaire des villes de France, 1886-90) : 
Cities. Deaths per 1,000. 

Under 5,000 20.91 

5,000-10,000 21.58 

10,000-20,000 25.80 

20,000-100,000 25.75 

100,000-400,000 26.65 

Paris 23.69 

France 22.21 

* Exclusive of still-births. Source, nth Cens., Rep. on Vital and Social Sta- 
tistics, 'Pt.i,^!'^. 17-19. The registration States are New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and 
District of Columbia. Cities of 5,0004- population in these nine districts are 
classed as urban, the remainder of the population as rural. The statistics of the 
great cities (28 in number) are less trustworthy, as their registration systems are 
still often defective. The metropolitan district includes the counties of New 
York, Kings, Queens, Richmond, Westchester (in New York), Hudson and 
Essex (in New jersey), and the cities of Paterson and Passaic (^op. cit., appendix). 



346 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table CXLIX. 
Dfaths per i,ooo population at specified ages: 

Registration States. Cities of Metropolitan 

Rural. Urban. ioo,ooO"r. District (N. Y.). 

All ages 15-34 22.15 21.62 24.61 

Under i year 121.21 243.32 236.81 264.35 

Under 5 years 37-12 80.40 78.00 89.25 

5-15 years 4.03 6.21 5.96 6.16 

15-45 years 6.89 10.80 10.71 12.07 

45-65 5 ears ^S-^9 26.27 26.62 3"-52 

65 years+ 67.83 88.60 89.76 96.62 

Unknown 54-98 20.65 20.76 '^A-l- 

In the United States, therefore, the mortality is heavier in 
the city than in the country in every period of life; and as a 
rule it increases in severity in the same ratio as the magni- 
tude of the city. Only in the age-period 5-15 years is the 
mortality less in the metropolitan district than in the regis- 
tration cities, and nowhere does it approach the more favor- 
able rate of the rural districts. 

What significance has the heavy urban mortality to the 
average citizen? It means that whereas the average person 
born in Massachusetts may expect to live 41.49 years, the 
average person born in Boston may expect to live only 34.89 
years ;^ that while 426 out of 1000 men born in Prussia sur- 
vive to the age of 50 years, only 318 out of 1000 native Ber- 
liners reach the same age '^^ that while the mean age at 
death is 42 years 2 months in France, it is but 28 years and 
19 days in Paris; 3 that while the average duration of life in 
the rural population of the Netherlands is 38.12 years, in the 
urban population it is only 30,31 years.'* The contrast be- 

1 op. ciL, 484-5. 

■^ Levasseur, ii, 312. 

•■^Turquan, "La vie moyenne en France," Revue Scientifique, 24 Dec., 1892, 
pp. 812, 817. Cf. Lagneau, Essai de statistique anthropologique sur la popula- 
tion parisienne. 

* Bevolkingsiafeln, etc., voorhetKonigr. der Nederlanden, Staat A, pp. 388, 391 . 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 347 

tween what is and what might be the healthfulness of city 
people, is strikingly shown by recent computations of the 
Registrar-General of England, who has grouped together the 
districts with low mortality (14-15 deaths per 1000 popula- 
tion) under the term of " selected healthy districts." They 
embrace about one-sixth of the population of England and 
Wales, and are chiefly rural, Manchester township, on the 
other hand, is taken as a fair representative of the urban 
and industrial population. On the basis of mortality in 
1881-90, it is figured that the expectation of life at birth is as 
follows : ^ 

Selected healthy districts 51-48 years. 

Manchester township 28.78 " 

England and Wales 43.66 " 

That is to say, a person born in one of the " selected 
healthy districts" of England may expect to live, on the 
average, nearly twice as many years as a person born in 
urban Manchester ! To show the social waste involved in 
such heavy mortality, it is sufficient to point to the fact that 
100,000 males born in Manchester would be reduced to 
62,326, and 100,000 females to 66,325, in five years; while 
in the healthy districts it would take fifty and forty-eight 
years, respectively, to bring about the same reduction." 
Clearly, the concentration of population produces an enor- 
mous drain on the vitality of a people. 

* Supplement to t/ie ^jt/i Annual Report, Part ii, p. cvii. 

- Ibid. Comparisons of the duration of life and expectation of life, based on 
life tables of urban and rural populations, are now becoming abundant. They 
may be said to have begun with the English Friendly Societies, which furnished 
statistics for rural, town and city districts. Cf. Radcliffe, Observations on the Rate 
of Mortality a7td Sickness existing among Friendly Societies (Manchester, 1850, 
Colchester, 1862, Sup. Rep., 1872); F. G. P. Neison, Contributions to Vital Sta- 
tistics \{\%']^'). On the subject of longevity, compare Levasseur (vol. ii), von 
Mayr, Bevolker ungsstatistik, and Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Sociology. 



348 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



But it does not follow that the case is hopeless for the 
cities and hence for society in general, which is destined to 
see an increasing number of its members concentrated in 
cities. There is no inherent and eternal reason why men 
should die faster in large communities than in small hamlets, 
provided they are not too ignorant, too stupid, or too selfishly 
individualistic to cooperate in the securing of common bene- 
fits. In some degree, doubtless, the mortality of city adults 
must exceed that of rural adults, on account of the danger- 
ous nature of city occupations ; much of this occupational 
mortality is irremediable, but it should no more be charged 
up against the city than the mortality in railway accidents 
should be charged against the country. In each case the 
mortality is the price paid for progress ; we might secure 
relief by abandoning both railways and machinery, and re- 
turning to the economic system of previous centuries. 

But leaving aside accidental causes, it may be afifirmed 
that the excessive urban mortality is due to lack of pure air, 
water and sunlight, together with uncleanly habits of life in- 
duced thereby.' Part cause, part effect, poverty often ac- 
companies uncleanliness : poverty, overcrowding, high rate of 
mortality, are usually found together in city tenements." 
Even though indigence be not carried to the point of starva- 
tion, it has a decided effect on the production of efifluvial 
poisons as well as on the tendency to disease of every kind. 

' As Dr. Farr once said {Sup. to 2j(h Annual Rep. of Reg.- Gen., p. xxxiii-v), 
*' there can be no doubt that mere proximity of the dwellings of people does not 
necessarily involve a high rate of mortality. When any zymotic matter, such as 
varioline, scarlatinine or typhine finds its way into a village or street, it is more 
likely to pass from house to house than it is when the people are brought less fre- 
quently into contact. The exhalations in the air are thicker. But if an adequate 
water supply, and sufficient arrangements for drainage and cleansing are secured, 
as they can be by combinations in towns, the evils which now make dense dis- 
tricts so fatal might be mitigated. Indeed, some of the dense districts of cities 
are at the present day comparatively salubrious." 

'■'Cf. Report of New York Tenement House Com., 1894, pp. 433-4- 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



349 



Thus a report of the medical officer of health for the London 
County Council shows that mortality (a) increases in the 
same ratio as the proportion of population living more than 
two in a room in tenements of less than five rooms (b) — 

a. b. 

17.51 under 1 5 per cent, 

19.51 15-20 " 

20.27 20-25 " 

21.76 25-30 

23-96 30-35 

25-07 35-40 

Still more striking was the result of the Berlin inquiry of 
1885: 

a. 73,000 persons living in families in tenement of i room. 

b. 382,000 " " " " " " " 2 rooms. 

c. 432,000 «' " " " " " " 3 " 

d. 398,000 " " " " " " " 4 " 

Class (a) suppHed nearly one-half of the total deaths, 
although it constituted only six per cent, of the population. 
While government cannot cure poverty, it can remedy some 
of the results of poverty, and that is what the government of 
Berlin has done in the enactment of wise building laws, which 
have abolished the insanitary conditions that led to such 
frightful mortality.^ 

That cleanliness and healthfulness may co-exist with indi- 
gence is shown by the example of the tenth ward in New 
York city. For it is not only by far the most densely popu- 

^ The death-rate in the first ward of New York in tenements where there were 
front and rear houses on the same lot was 61.97, while it was 29.03 in houses, of 
the same ward, standing singly on a lot. (Report of Ten. House Com. of 18^4, 
p. ^■^.') In an English city the death-rate was 37.3 in districts which contained 
50 per cent, of the back-to back houses, as against 26.1 in districts containing no 
such houses. In Glasgow the death-rate was 27.74 for families living in one and 
two rooms; 19.45 ^^^ those in three and four rooms, and 11.23 ^^r those in five 
or more rooms. (Newsholme, Vital Statistia, 140, 155.) 



350 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



lated ward in New York both as regards number of inhabi- 
tants to the acre and number of tenants to the house,^ but it 
also contained a large number of the rear tenements ^ so 
scathingly denounced as death-traps by the Tenement House 
Committee of 1894. Yet, notwithstanding these conditions, 
the tenth ward had the extremely low death-rate of 17.143 
and was surpassed in healthfulness by only two wards (one a 
business and the other a suburban district) out of the entire 
twenty-four wards in the city.'^ This favorable death-rate was 
not the result of superior economic conditions ; on the con- 
trary, the population of this ward consists almost entirely of 
Russian and Polish Jews, who are among the poorest classes 
of the city. Nor was it the result of a favorable age consti- 
tution, for the tenth ward swarms with children. We may, 
indeed, exclude the adults entirely, and we shall still find that 
the death-rate in the tenth ward is more favorable than that 
in all but three other wards of the city : the number of deaths 
of children under five years of age to 1,000 living of that age 
in the tenth ward was 58.32, a remarkable showing when the 
rates in the other wards, running as high as 183, are taken 
into consideration.^ What, then, is the explanation of the 
handsome record made by the tenth ward in the face of its 
unfavorable conditions? There is but one answer: its peo- 
ple are careful in the observance of sanitary laws. Being 

^ The density per acre was, by the census of 1890, 543; that of New York city, 
59. (^Social Stat, of Cities, 11.) The density of the tenement house population 
of New York was 103, that of the tenth ward, 622 (^Report of the Tenement 
House Committee 0/18(^4, pp. 23-4). The average number of tenants to a house 
was 57.2 in the tenth ward, 34 in the entire city {Ibid., p. 25). 

' Cf. Table A, p. 274 of the Report. 

^ The statistics all refer to the year 1893. 

* Ibid., p. 25. 

''Ibid., Table B, p. 278. The average rate for the whole city was 76.6. The 
rate for London in 1891 was 66.4, in England, 59, and in the rural county of 
Hereford, 39.2. (^Registrar-General's Report, p. xliii.) 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 3 5 i 

Hebrews, they observe the strict Mosaic laws regarding 
cleanhness, the cooking of food, habits of eating, drinking, 
etc. 

This illustration is sufficient to show that the most difficult 
problem connected with the health of cities is not incapable 
of solution. Personal cleanliness in the home has become 
more and more a subject of legislation in the way of strin- 
gent building laws'" and proceedings for the condemnation of 
old tenements. All the great cities now have laws regulat- 
ing the proportion of the building-lot that must remain un- 
built {i. e. the amount of court space), the height of buildings, 
their construction, the size of rooms, height of ceilings, sani- 
tary appliances and methods of artificial lighting. Where 
such regulations cannot be enforced on account of the age 
and situation of the buildings, the buildings have been con- 
demned and demolished by public authority, as instance the 
British Housing of the Working-Classes Act of 1890 (53 and 
54 Victoria, ch. 70, sec. 21) which provided for the destruc- 
tion of the fearfully unhealthy "back-to-back" houses, and 
the New York Law of 1895 (chapter 567, sec. 7) which 
provided for the condemnation of the equally insanitary rear 
tenements and other disease-breeding structures. The 
length to which sanitary legislation may go in order to pre- 
vent the city from becoming a "pest-house" is to be ob- 
served in the measures taken against overcrowding. Thus, 
the New York Law of 1895 (ch. 567, sec. 10) makes it manda- 
tory upon the Board of Health of New York city to see that 
at least 400 cubic feet of air shall be afforded to each adult 
and 200 to each child occupying a room in tenement houses 
with insufficient ventilation. The recent movement toward 

' According to the New York Tenement House Committee of 1894 (^Report, 
p. 62), the New York building laws, as regards tenement-houses and dwellings 
for the poor, are " superior to any that prevail elsewhere." But they are not 
strictly enforced. 



352 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the building of model tenement houses, which has assumed 
large proportions in New York city, is another step in the 
direction of preventing overcrowding. The possibilities of 
progress toward healthfulness which are afiforded by such im- 
provements in the housing of the people, are demonstrated 
by the mortality statistics of the Peabody tenements in Lon- 
don. In these buildings population is very dense, — 75 1 to 
the acre as compared with 58 for all London, — and the age 
distribution is less favorable to low mortality than is that of 
the city at large. But the death-rate in the Peabody build- 
ings (1886-89) was 18.6 per 1000, as compared with 19.6 
for London, 25.6 for the central districts, and 26.9 for the 
eastern districts of London.^ Even more encouraging is the 
reduction in infant mortality (deaths of infants under one 
year to 1,000 births) : 

1887. 1889. 1891. 1893. 

Peabody buildings 141 127 134 126 

London 188 141 154 164 

Central districts 175 151 177 181 

Eastern districts 172 146 161 175 

While in other groups of population the infant mortality 
increased from 1889 on, it slightly diminished in the model 
tenements. The housing of the working classes is therefore 
one of the most urgent duties of cities to themselves. 

It has often been objected to the policy of demolition and 
reconstruction that new slums are created as fast as the old 
ones are abolished. The Royal Commission on the Housing 
of the Working Classes in 1884 reported that "where the 
demolitions are so extensive that the people have to depart, 
then new slums are created." Since workmen must and will 
live near their work, the immediate efTect of any consider- 
able demolition of their dwellings is the overcrowding of the 

'Newsholme, "Tlie Vital Statistics of Artisan Block-Dwellings," in Proceedings 
of the 8th Inter. Cong, of Hygiene, Budapest, 1S94, vii, 430. 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 353 

neighboring houses ; and it is only by the enforcement of 
stringent building and sanitary laws that the city can prevent 
the formation of new slums. The demolition of old build- 
ings needs to be done with judgment, since it is often bet- 
ter policy to wait for the pressure of high rents to compel 
the factory to remove to the suburbs, taking the workmen 
with it. To the erection of model tenements in the suburbs 
no posssible objection can be offered, and this is unquestion- 
ably the direction private philanthropy should take.^ 

There are other ways in which government may provide 
material remedies for personal and family uncleanliness en- 
gendered by the conditions of life in tenements ; such as, for 
example, public baths, or still better, cheap water rates that 
will encourage house-owners to put bath-rooms in the tene- 
ments. Public baths is the European policy,'' but the Amer- 
ican policy tends rather toward cheap water rates, as is 
notably the case in Buffalo. As for the rest, education must 
be trusted to teach the city-poor proper sanitary habits. 
Education is no doubt a process both long and toilsome ; 
but it is withal a hopeful process and forms the basis of 
modern democracy. 

Outside of private dwellings of the people, the scope of 
private and municipal activity is less restricted. In the 
matter of securing light and air, it is now admitted that the 
provision of numerous small parks or recreation piers as 

' The question of the housing of the working classes has given rise to an abun- 
dant literature, references to which may be found in the encyclopedias of political 
science {e. g., Art. " Arbeiterwohnungen," in Sch5nberg's Handbuck der Pol. 
Economie ; Art. " Wohnungsfrage," in Conrad's Hdwbh.') An excellent sum- 
mary of the legislation together with a clear statement of the problem, is given in 
Bowmaker's little book, The Housing of the Working Classes, which also con- 
tains a bibliography; see also The Housing of the Working People, by Dr. E. R. 
L. Gould (8th Special Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor). 

■' Twenty-five parishes in London maintain 31 bathing establishments. Cf. 
Hartwell, in Bui. of the Dept. of Labor, July, 1897 : " Public Baths in Europe." 



354 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



breathing spaces is not a luxury, but a matter of absolute 
necessity to the city. Of equal or greater importance is the 
provision of children's play-grounds on an adequate scale. 
People having once realized that city life is to be the per- 
manent lot of a majority of the inhabitants of civilized coun- 
tries, it becomes the undoubted policy of their governments 
to make the city healthful. In line with this policy there has 
grown up a vast administrative system, unknown to our 
rural ancestors, which is charged with the inspection of 
workshops and the conditions under which clothing is man- 
ufactured ; with the inspection of food and the prevention of 
adulteration, etc. Perhaps the most important single factor 
in the reduction of the death-rate in New York city has been 
the reduction of infant mortality brought about by a rigid 
inspection of the milk supply and the encouragement of the 
use of sterilized milk."^ As will shortly appear, the widest 
divergence of rural and urban mortality occurs in infancy; 
hence all measures designed to affect infant mortality favor- 
ably are to be energetically promoted. The medical inspec- 
tion of children in the pubhc schools and the care taken to 
isolate contagious diseases are also factors in the reduction 
of the city death-rate.^ Finally, the modern Babylons are 
endeavoring to secure health for their residents by improv- 
ing methods of communication between their business cen- 
tres and residential outskirts. The London County Council, 
as Dr. Albert Shaw has observed, is giving more attention, 
if possible, to efforts to induce the railroads to improve their 
suburban morning and evening train service for workingmen, 
and to develop all parts of London's underground, surface 
and suburban transit systems, than it is to dealing directly 

' Reports of the Board of Health of New York City, passim. 

^ The decrease in the New York death-rate from contagious diseases for the first 
half of the year was 3.17 per cent, in 1894, 2.23 in 1895, 2.07 in 1896, and 1.49 
in 1897. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



355 



with the housing question/ This subject will engage discus- 
sion in a subsequent chapter. 

Considering the effort devoted to improving the healthful- 
ness of cities, one would naturally expect a diminution of 
their death-rates in recent years, and of course such a dimin- 
ution is familiar to all. In a preceding chapter a table was 
given showing the progress made in the capital and other 
cities of Sweden. In England the gradual approximation 
of the urban to the rural death-rate is shown in the following 
percentages from the Registrar-General's Reports of 1891 
(p. Ivii) and 1893 : 

Urban Rural Deaths in town to 

sanitary districts. loo in country. 

1851-60 24.7 19.9 124 

1S61-70 24.8 19.7 126 

1871-80 23.1 19.0 122 

1S81-9O 20.3 17.3 117 

1893 20.2 17.4 116 

Like the Swedish rate, these are the crude death-rates, in 
the calculation of which age and sex are neglected ; but it is 
legitimate to use crude rates in comparison as regards time, 
since in any given place the age-distribution is not subject 
to great change. Compare these rates with those given by 
Sussmilch^ more than a century ago, rates which continued 
until the middle of the present century : 

Rural 25 

Small towns 31 

Large cities 36 

Capital cities 40-|- 

Within a period of twenty-five years, London reduced its 
death-rate from 50 to 25, thereby increasing the average 

'Testimony before the N. Y. Tenement House Com. of 1894, in Rtport,"^. 373. 
'^ Die g'dtil. Ordnung, 1761, i, 79-91. 



356 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



length of life from 25 to 37 years. New York city has also 
made some progress in the last 40 years : ^ 

Deaths per i,ooo. 
1856-65 32.19 

1866-75 29.77 

1876-85 26.32 

1886-95 25.18 

1896 21.52 

In the introduction of enlightened sanitary methods we 
should expect the largest cities to lead the way. How effect- 
ually they have met their obligations may be ascertained by 
a review of the mortality statistics of the Germanic countries. 
Within a century Vienna has reduced her death-rate from 
60 in the 1000 to 23 (1886-90); the urban rate (50-53 
cities), following Vienna's, was 24, while for the entire state 
the rate was 29 ."" Allowing for differences in age distribu- 
tion, it remains true that the cities of Austria are more 
healthful than the rural districts. This is indicated by the 
relatively low infant mortality in Vienna and the other cities ; 
it being 208 per 1000 hving births in Vienna, 227 in 53 cities 
and from 243 to 260 in the entire state.3 

Still more instructive are the Prussian statistics. The fol- 
lowing table covers the years 1890-91, but for the sake of 
comparison the mortality of each group of towns for 1880-81 

' Report of the Board of Health for year ending Dec. ji, i8g6, p. 14. 

" Von Juraschek, " Die Sterblichkeit in den Oesterreichischen Stadten," Pro- 
ceedings of the Eighth Inter. Cong, of Hygiene, Budapest, 1894, vii, 491. 

' Loc. cit., p. 502. The urban mortality in Austria can hardly be called favor- 
able; it is rather that the rural rate is so unfavorable. Still it demonstrates the 
fact that the cities in Austria can no longer be called " destroyers " of population, 
but are rather showing the rural districts the path toward healthfulness. In Hun- 
gary a similar condition exists, so far as we can judge from imperfect data. Dr. 
Thuroczy calculated the death-rates in 3,284 towns of various sizes, and found the 
highest rate (47) in the smallest places, and a steady decrease as the towns be- 
came larger, until a population of 40,000 was reached (27.9). After that, the rate 
increased slightly. ((?/. cit., vii, 222.) 



NA TURAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 357 

has been added and for the 16 great cities the mortality in 
each age period :^ 

Table CL. 

Deaths per iooo in each age group. 

16 largest cities. Cities 20,000- Cities under Urban Rural 

1880-1. 1890-1. 100,000. 20,000. communes, communes. Prussia. 

°"^5 53-5 41-6 37.6 33.7 37.2 32.3 34.0 

^S-20 4.9 3.9 4.5 4.6 4.4 4.5 4.5 

20-30 7-7 5-8 6.S 7.0 6.4 6.2 6.3 

30-40 12-3 9-8 10.8 10.1 10.2 8.1 9.0 

40-50 17.2 15.2 16.2 14.5 15.2 11.4 12.9 

50-60 26.3 24.4 26.3 23.7 24.5 20.8 22.1 

60-70 46.9 46.8 50.2 48.7 48.S 46.7 47.3 

70-80 99.4 99.1 107.3 103.7 103.3 105.7 104.9 

80 -r ^. ... 210.5 221.8 229.3 227.1 226.2 230.9 229.2 

All ages, 1890-91. 22.8 23.5 24.2 23.6 23.4 23.5 

" 1880-81. 27.5 ... 26.1 25.8 26.4 24.6 25.2 

Observe, first, that the crude death-rate has decreased in 
the rural population only from 24.6 in 1880 to 23.4 in 1890, 
while the urban rate diminished in the same period from 26.4 
to 23.6, and the rate of cities with population of 100,000 and 
upwards from 27.5 to 22.8. Obviously, it is the class of 
great cities that made the best showing. The inference is 
confirmed by an examination of the death-rate in the various 
age- groups, from which it appears that the great cities of 
Prussia have a lower death-rate than the smaller cities 
at every age-period except 0-15 and 40-60 years ; and lower 
than the rural population itself at the ages of 15-30 and 
70+. In an extended comparison of mortality by age-classes 
in the several Grossstadte of Prussia and the provinces in 
which they are situated, it has been pointed out that among 
males at least one-half of the cities have as low a rate of 
mortality as the provinces, at the ages of 4 and 5 years, and 
nearly all in the period of 20-25 years; but in the later 
ages the cities are much more unhealthful. On the other 
hand, the female mortality is less in the majority of the cities 

^ Bleicher, 268-9. 



2^8 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

at almost every age after the first three years of childhood. 
On the whole, the cities make the worst showing in the age- 
period 1-3 years, and the best in years 5-25.^ 

Somewhat similar results are yielded by the statistics of 
other countries. Thus, the only age-period in which the 
male mortality is less in the urban than in the rural popula- 
tion of Denmark is 10-15," while Copenhagen stands above 
the urban population for the age-classes 5-25. As regards 
the mortality of females, on the other hand, the urban popu- 
lation leads the rural in the years 10-25, ^"<^ Copenhagen 
has the advantage of both from 10 to 35 years, as well as in 
old age. In Bavaria, again, the cities make the better show- 
ing during the age-periods 10-15 ^"^^ 21-30 among males, 
and 21-40 among females.3 In England, the cities have the 
advantage of a lower rate of mortality than the rural districts 
during the ages 15-35 for females alone. Taking the national 
death-rate at each age as 100, the death-rates of selected 
locaUties will be expressed in the following figures :■♦ 

Table CLI. 

I. Ratios of male death-rates. 

0-. 5-. 15-. 25- 35-- 4S-- S5-- ^S-- 

London ill 103 92 106 113 115 113 106 

Pleasure places 77 75 90 105 105 

Seaside places 78 78 108 ll i 98 

Manchester 139 141 124 136 152 

Dockyard towns 104 104 iii iii 109 

Staffordshire potteries. 134 loi 98 lOi 125 

Lancashire mfs 123 116 100 104 109 

North collier districts. 109 128 118 89 87 

Rural districts (450) . 74 83 91 88 79 

^Kuczynski, 231. 

"^ And the oldest ages. See Rubin, vol. vii, p. 490, of the Proceedings of the 
Eighth Inter. Cong, of Hygiene and Demography, Budapest, 1894. 

' Kuczynski, 214 ff. * Jour, of Stat. Soc. (1897), 60 : 65. 



93 


91 


98 


90 


82 


85 


157 


153 


144 


109 


96 


95 


148 


144 


132 


120 


130 


130 


91 


lOI 


106 


76 


78 


86 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



359 



2. Ratios of female death-rates. 

t>-. S-. IS-. 2S-. 3S-. 45-. SS-. 6s-. 

London 113 100 78 89 102 108 104 loi 

Pleasure places 74 80 75 78 84 87 87 91 

Seaside places 76 83 83 84 82 82 79 82 

Manchester 141 137 iii 126 143 158 159 145 

Dockyard towns 105 106 ico 99 100 102 93 97 

Staffordshire potteries. 131 94 iii 119 118 118 128 129 

Lancashire mf. dist . . 121 109 in 112 no 122 137 133 

North collier districts. 112 126 124 118 no 106 107 in 

Rural districts (450) . 72 87 105 96 86 80 82 88 

These statistics will throw some light on the causes of the 
high rate of mortality in towns, — whether town-made, due to 
occupation, or brought about by the migratory movement. 
First, it is to be noted that the rural death-rate is below the 
average for England at every age for male and every age 
except 15-25 for female. But the urban rates (London, 
Manchester, Stafifordshire and Lancashire) are almost invar- 
iably higher than the national rates, although in London the 
rates of female mortality are very little above the national 
average except during the first five years of age. The pres- 
ence of so many domestic servants is sufficient to explain 
this, since the male mortality- rate is not so favorable in Lon- 
don, nor the female in manufacturing and mining districts. 
Generally speaking, the urban rate is most unfavorable in 
infancy, Manchester being an exception. But Manchester's 
excessively high rate of adult mortality is not representative 
even of the manufacturing cities of Northern England. 
There are many factors other than conditions of residence 
which cause the differences in mortality heretofore noted ; 
such, for example, as the presence of many female servants 
in London. Hospitals and similar institutions also disturb 
the rates. Occupation of course exercises a very consider- 
able influence, which may be seen in the high death-rates of 
Manchester and the Staffordshire potteries. According to 
Dr. Ogle's investigation, the lowest mortality was among the 



36o 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



clergymen, and the highest among hotel servants, while coal 
miners had a lower mortality than commercial clerks, and 
the street hawkers, who lead a healthy outdoor life, had about 
the same mortality as the men engaged in the lung-destroying 
pottery manufacture.^ It is obvious that statistics of occupa- 
tion and mortality will aid us little. Dr. Arlidge, who has 
written the most authoritative book on the subject, virtually 
confesses that it is impossible to determine how far diseases 
are trade-made, and how far town-made.^ Some influence 
on urban mortality is doubtless exercised by those trades in 
which men are subject to injuries arising from dust fumes, or 
from contact with poisonous substances, or from handling 
heavy tools and machinery. It is doubtful if indoor or 
sedentary labor, of itself, produces a high death-rate ; social 
position and economic condition, on the other hand, seem to 
have more influence. That the high urban death-rate is not 
primarily due to the nature of the city trades may be inferred 
from the fact that the widest difference between urban and 
rural mortality exists among children under the age of five 
years. In other words, the high urban death-rate is primar- 
ily a result of high infant mortality. In the average com- 

^ Taking loo as the standard, the comparative mortality in certain trades was as 

follows : 

Clergymen loo Printers 193 

Farmers 114 Glassworkers 214 

Paper-makers 1 29 Cutlers, scissors makers .... 229 

Lawyers 152 File-makers 300 

Coal miners 160 Costermongers, street sellers. 308 

Bakers 172 Earthenware makers 314 

Commercial clerks 1 79 Hotel servants 397 

Railway and road laborers ... 1 85 
Additional figures are given and discussed at some length by Professor Mayo- 

Smith in Statistics and Sociology, pp. 165-7. 

' Hygiene, Diseases and Mortality of Occupations, p. 33. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



361 



munity about one-fifth of all deaths are children under one 
year of age.^ 

Not only in England, but in Prussia (r/. Table CXXXIII, 
ante), France and the United States (Massachusetts, cf. 
Table CXLV), do the cities show a higher rate of infant mor- 
tality than the country. But the situation is not irremedi- 
able. Not all the evils are of a permanent nature; for 
example, the employment of married women in factories.' 
In addition to the lack of proper sanitation already de- 
scribed, the essential reason of excessive infant mortality in 
cities is poor nourishment. This was proved beyond ques- 
tion by the classical investigation of Boeckh in Berlin. A 
supply of pure milk, fed through non-rubber tubes, is abso- 
lutely necessary where wet-nurses are lacking; even with 
proper precautions the infant death-rate always increases in 
the summer-time when the mothers Work out, and it is so 
much more difficult to obtain sterilized milk. That the cities 



' Levasseur ii, 164. The fact will be made plainer than it has yet been made 
by the following figures showing how many persons out of 1,000 at the beginning 
of a quinquennial period will on the average survive to its end (1881-90) : * 

England Manchester Healthy 

and Wales. township. districts. 

0-5 751 623 827 

5- 976 , 952 982 

10- 990 970 989 

15- 981 967 983 

20- 974 951 977 

25- 965 928 971 

30- 956 903 966 

35- 946 880 961 

40- 933 854 954 

After the age of 5 years is reached, Manchester remains for a time subject to 
only a slightly greater mortality than the healthy districts, although the difference 
increases again after the age of 35. 

* Demonstrated by Miss Collet, " The Extent and Effects of Industrial Employ- 
ment of Women," Jour, of Stat. Soc. (June, 1898), 61 : 219-60. 

■ Sup. to jjth Annual Pep. of Registrar- General, Part ii, p. cxi. 



362 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



will ultimately learn how to deal with this problem, is indi- 
cated by the successful efforts of several European countries. 
As has already been pointed out, the Austrian cities have a 
lower rate of infant mortality than the rural districts ; and the 
following statistics show that Austria does not stand alone :^ 

Deaths of infants under one year to i,ooo living births: 

Countries. Cities. 

Germany, 200 193 and 206 cities in 1889-92 237.0 

Belgium, 166 70 cities in 1889-92 187.5 

France, 166 Cities of 25,0004- in 1891-92 i70-7 

England,- 145 28 and 33 cities (80,000+) in 1891-92. 163.4 

Austria, 254 57 cities (i2,0GO-|-) in 1889-92 238.6 

Switzerland, 194 15 of the large cities in 1890-92 157-5 

Netherlands, 203 12 large cities in 1891-92 I95'0 

In Bavaria, as was recently pointed out by Kuczynski,* 
the cities have been able to present a lower rate than the 
rural districts since 1882, with the exception of the years 1886 
and 1893. The most favorable showing was in the provinces 
containing the largest cities, Munich being especially distin- 
guished for a low rate. In Bavaria, too, the cities have a 
lower rate of infant mortality among the illegitimate children, 
than have the rural districts. Elsewhere, the fact that the 
city illegitimate children form a larger proportion of the total 
number of children than is the case in the rural districts,* 
often accounts for the more unfavorable general rate of infant 
mortality ; since illegitimate children are everywhere subject 
to a heavy mortality. 

In Saxony the urban rate of infant mortality is elevated by 
a high rate in industrial Chemnitz ; nevertheless, the large 

' Silbergleit, " Kindersterblichkeit in Europ. Grossstadten," Proceedings ofBuda~ 
pest Cong, of Demography, vii, 445. 

*In 1881-90 the rural rate was 128 as compared with an urban (78 cities) rate 
of 160. — Suppl. to Jjih Rep. of Registrar- General, Pt. i, p. Ixviii. 

•'P. 199. 

* Not necessarily a larger number of illegitimates in proportion to the number 
of unmarried women. 



NATURAL MOVEMENT OF POPULATION 



363 



cities make a more favorable showing than do the small 
cities.^ 

The reduction of the rates in Prussian cities in the last 
decade is noticeable :^ 

1880-1. I 890-1. 

Prussia 208.3 205.2 

Rural ' I95-0 195-8 

Urban 233.2 221. i 

In 16 largest cities 267.0 241.7 

In all cities 20,000-100,000 224.4 214.5 

" " " 20,000 216.3 208.5 

The infant mortality of illegitimate children increased 
slightly in the rural communes, while it diminished in all the 
cities, most of all in the great cities. 

In discussing remedies for a high rate of infant mortality, 
it is well to bear in mind that the real excess in cities does 
not occur in the first week after birth or even in the first 
month. It really begins with the second month and reaches 
its maximum in the sixth month.3 In Prussia, indeed, an in- 

' Zeitschrift des kdnigl. Sachs. Statis. Bureaus, xxxiv, 16; xl, 4, 1 1, 12 : 
Table CLII. 

Average annual number of deaths of children under one year to 100 living births: 

Cities of 1881-85. 1886-90. 

100,000-f inhabitants 25.9 25.7 

20,000-100,000 31. 1 28.8 

10,000-20,000 30.5 31.2 

5,000-10,000 30.1 29.0 

3,000-5,000 29.6 30.7 

2,000-3,000 28.6 28.6 

1,000-2,000 \ 2^^ 24.8 

Under 1,000 > 26.I 

All cities 28.55 28.05 

^Bleicher, 267. 

* English experience. The Registrar-General (^Sup. ^jth Rep., Pt. ii, p. cix) 
makes a comparison between three cities (Preston, Leicester and Blackburn) 
which have a high rate of infant mortality, and three rural counties (Hereford- 



3^4 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



fant born in the city has a better chance of living, during the 
first 15 or 30 days, than has a country child ; of 100 children 
dying in first year after birth the following number died in 
the first 1 5 days : ^ 

Male. Female. 

Prussia 21.6 19.6 

Rural 23.5 21.4 

Urban 18.6 16.7 

Cities under 20,000 ; 20.1 18.0 

" 20,000-100,000 18.3 16.6 

" 100,000 \- 1 6.4 14.8 

The geographical distribution of infant mortality in Prussia 
hardly confirms the current opinion that a high birth-rate 
must be accompained by a high rate of infant mortality ; the 
Rhine cities have the former without the latter. On the 
other hand, in Massachusetts, as we saw in Table CXLV, the 
rate of infant mortality moves hand in hand with the birth- 
rate. But the infant mortality is probaby as much cause as 

shire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire) which have a low rate. Taking the latter's rates as 
100, the following figures express the urban rates : 

Age in days. Ratio. Age in months. Ratio. 

o 120 o 127 

I 164 I 221 

2 123 2.... 301 

3 102 3 308 

4 95 4 303 

5 109 5 373 

6 136 6 337 

Weeks. 7 279 

o 123 8 325 

1 164 9 292 



183 10 278 

197 " 27s 



p. ex. — "In the first week of life the town rate exceeds the rural rate by 23^ ; 
2dwk., 64%; 3dwk., 83%; 4thwk., 97^, First month, 27% ; 2d mo., 121%; 
6th mo., 273% (max.). 

1 Bleicher, Proceedittgs of Budapest Congress, vii, 477. 



NA T URAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION 365 

efifect ; by shortening the period of suckling and diminishing 
the intervals of child-bearing, it leaves a vacancy to be filled 
by another birth/ 

It has been aflfirmed that the decrease in the death-rate, 
so far as it comes from a reduction of infant mortality, is no 
economic benefit because it merely preserves unsound bodies 
and minds. The fallacy of such reasoning has frequently 
been pointed out^ and need not be repeated here. The 
smaller the infant mortality, the heavier must be the mortality 
in the latter years ; for men must die sooner or later. The 
crucial point is whether the lives saved will be extended to 
old age or will be lost in earlier adult years as the result of 
weak constitutions. Dr. Ogle maintained the latter, in which 
event the extension of life could hardly be regarded as an 
unmitigated blessing. But his statistics 3 are now superseded ; 
in the last decade, 1881-90, the English death-rate decreased 
for both sexes at every age-period except 65-75, clearly in- 
dicating a greater length of life. And the Prussian statis- 
tics already presented point to the same conclusion : mor- 
tality diminished at every age except among those over 80 
years old. 

One question still remains, — ^What effect, if any, have 
migratory movements between city and country upon the 
death-rates of each? We found that as a rule the urban rates 
were most favorable at the age 15-35 and the rural rates then 
most unfavorable. Many people regard this simply as a result 
of migration. Mr. Thomas A. Welton in an article on 
"Local Death-Rates in England" (from which the statistics 
of Table CLI are derived) assumed at the outset that if the 
death-rates in the age-periods 5—45, and especially 15-35, 

^ Newsholme, Vital Statistics, 57. 

* Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Sociology, 179-80. Cf. Bleicher, 274. 
' According to Dr. Ogle, the death-rate for males over 35 and for females over 
45 increased between 1838-54 and 1871-81. (Cf. Mayo-Smith, op. «V,, p. 178.) 



366 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



were depressed in London and other places attracting 
workers, and simultaneously raised above the national pro- 
portion in the districts supplying the bulk of such workers, 
his case would be made out. It was easy to prove the facts, 
but the assumption cannot be granted. It is quite as likely 
that the low urban rate at the age-period 15-35 is due to 
superior nourishment as to the immigration of healthy per- 
sons from the country. Ammon has compiled statistics tend- 
ing to show that city workers are better fed than country 
workers.^ At any rate it is a reasonable hypothesis. 

In Frankfort, Germany, an attempt was made (1890-1) to 
compare the mortality of citizens born in the country and those 
born in the city itself, with the following result : " 

Table CLIII. 

Death-rate of Frankforters born 

In the city. Outside. 

0-5 72-3 68.5 

5-10 10.2 1 1.8 

10-15 3.8 5-2 

15-20 4-3 3-5 

20-30 6.5 5.7 

30-40 8.4 9.8 

40-50 13-5 16.3 

50-60 22.4 27.0 

60-70 43.8 53.2 

70-80 109.5 ^05-3 

8o-|- 224.0 251.8 

All ages 25 o 14.5 

Excluding children under 5 years.. . . 13.0 13.7 

Clearly, the influx of countrymen does not reduce the 
city death-rate among adults; for the outsiders have a 
heavier mortality at every age except 0-5, 15-30, and 70-80. 

'^ Die Gesdhchaftsordnung und ihre natiirlichen Grundlagen, p. 117; Die 
naturliche Auslese beim Menscken, 1 23, 1 70. 
' Bleicher, II Heft, p. 24. 



NA TUBAL MO VEMENT OF POPULA TION oQy 

Whether they are stronger than the city-born or not, cannot 
be easily determined ; but they certainly endure less per- 
tinaciously the heavy draughts on vitality made by city-life, 
than do the city-born. What John Graunt wrote 200 years 
ago seems true to-day : " As for unhealthiness, it may well 
be supposed that although seasoned bodies may and do live 
near as long in London as elsewhere, yet newcomers and 
children do not." ^ 

To recapitulate : The tendency to marry and the fruitful- 
ness of marriage are but slightly affected by the concentra- 
tion of population. The theory of population now accepted 
makes economic and social position the determining factors, 
rather than the degree of density of population. Hence 
marriage and birth rates dififer in cities of the same magnitude 
according to the prevailing industry and occupation. 

Death-rates, however, vary with the degree of agglomera- 
tion of population. But there is no inherent reason for the 
relatively high urban mortality except man's neglect and 
indifiference. Recent tendencies show that the great cities 
are leading the way in making sanitary improvements, and 
in several countries, of which Bavaria is an excellent ex- 
ample, the large cities now make a more favorable showing 
as to mortality than do the other communities. This holds 
true even of infant mortality, which is one of the most 
decisive indices of a locality's healthfulness, 

^ Bills of Mortality, p. 90. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PHYSICAL AND MORAL HEALTH OF CITY AND COUNTRY 

The field opened up in the study of death-rates is the most 
important and one of the most interesting yet encountered. 
That the townsman on the average is shorter-lived than the 
countryman is incontrovertibly established ; and it is com- 
monly believed that the city man is also less healthy, vigorous 
and capable, both physically and mentally, than the country- 
man. In short, cities are the site, and city life the cause, of the 
deterioration of the race.' The severest indictment is drawn 
by Nordau, the apostle of Degeneration : " The inhabitant of 
a large town, even the richest who is surrounded with the 
greatest luxury, is continually exposed to the unfavorable in- 
fluences which diminish his vital powers far more than what 
is inevitable. He breathes an atmosphere charged with or- 
ganic detritus ; he eats stale, contaminated, adulterated food ; 
he feels himself in a state of constant nervous excitement^ 
and one can compare him without exaggeration to the in- 
habitant of a marshy district. The children of large towns 
who are not carried ofif at an early age suffer from the pecul- 
iar arrested development which Morel has ascertained in the 
population of fever districts. They develop more or less 
normally until they are 14 or 15 years of age, are up to that 

' Such is the concurrence of opinion among all the writers of former genera- 
tions. Says Rousseau {^Entile, 1819, vi, 6i) : " Les villes sont le gouffre de I'es- 
p6ce humaine. Au bout de quelques generations, les races perissent ou degener- 
ent," Similarly, Henry George {Social Problems, 317) : "This life of the great 
cities is not the natural life of man. He must under such conditions deteriorate 
physically, mentally, morally." 

(368) 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 369 

time alert, sometimes brilliantly endowed, and give the high- 
est promise. Then suddenly there is a standstill. The mind 
loses its facility of comprehension and the boy, who only 
yesterday was a model scholar, becomes an obtuse, clumsy 
dunce, who can only be steered with the greatest difficulty 
through his examinations. With these mental changes, 
bodily modifications go hand in hand."^ And it is in the re- 
markable growth of great cities that Nordau finds the explana- 
tion of the equally striking increase in the number of degen- 
erates in the last half century.^ 

Nordau, however, is an extremist, whose opinion many 
people regard as too pessimistic, not to say fanciful. Let 
us therefore quote the testimony of a sane, conservative 
English physician, — Dr. G. B. Longstafif, one of the best- 
known statisticians in England : " That the town life is not 
as healthy as the country is a proposition that cannot be 
contradicted. . . . The narrow chest, the pale face, the 
weak eyes, the bad teeth, of the town-bred child are but too 
often apparent. It is easy to take an exaggerated view either 
way, but the broad facts are evident enough ; long life in 
towns is accompanied by more or less degeneration of race. 
The great military powers of the continent know this well 
enough, and it may be surmised that with them agricultural 
protection is but a device to keep up the supply of country- 
bred recruits. "3 

Finally, the theory of city degeneracy is met with in the 
proverb that one cannot find a London cockney whose 
father was born in the city, and in the oft-quoted assertion 
that no business houses can be found in the city whose 
members have resided in the same city more than one or two 

'^Degeneration, Trans, from 2d Ger. Ed. (N. Y., 1895), p. 35. 

2/<5iV.,p.36. 

' your, of Stat. Society, 1893, p. 416. 



370 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



generations.^ The belief that city families die out early is 
widespread, and is expressed in nearly all literatures. Its 
most impressive statement has been formulated by Dr. 
Georg Hansen in his oft-abused and oft-praised work, Die 
Drei Bevolkerungsstufen,^ which is essentially an argument 
for the preservation of a peasantry or agricultural class, not 
only as a military measure, but as the fundamental condition 
of national vigor and well-being. Hansen's argument for 
the superiority of country-bred people embraces a consider- 
able number of propositions that require critical examina- 
tion, the principal ones being the following : 

(i) The city-born reside in the poorest quarters of the 
city; the country-born in the wealthiest (p. 147). 

(2) The city-born predominate in the lowest occupations 
and the lowest social classes (p. 150). 

(3) The city-born contribute an unduly large proportion 
to the class of degenerates (criminals, lunatics, suicides, 
etc., pages 196-202). 

(4) The cities have a low rate of natural increase, often 
indeed a deficit of births (p. 28). 

(5) The city population always consists of at least as 
many country-born as city-born (p. 27). 

(6) The typical city class, the middle class or bourgeoisie , 
is incapable of self-perpetuation (p. 27). 

The fact that the poorest districts of great cities often 

^ Thus Cantlie, author of Degeneration among Londoners, " after prolonged 
and careful search could not find a single person whose ancestors, from their 
grandparents downwards, had been born and bred in London." — Strahan, Mar- 
riage and Disease, p. 31. Dr. Pratt, in a paper before the American Social 
Science Association in 1887, accepted the statement as authoritative. Cf. also 
Booth, Life and Labor of the People, iii, 65 : "There is a strong conviction in the 
minds of many, incapable however of strict verification, that Londoners tend to 
die out after the second or, at least, the third generation." 

^ Ein Versuch, die Ursachen fur das Bliihen und Altern der Volker nachzu- 
weisen, Miinchen, 1889. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



371 



contain the largest percentage of city-born has led other 
writers than Hansen into serious error. From this error 
even the great work of Charles Booth (^Life and Labor of 
the People of London) is not free; thus, his investigators 
found that while 34.3 per cent, of the population of all 
London in 1881 were countrymen {i. e., born in the United 
Kingdom outside of London), only 24.2 per cent, of East 
London's population were countrymen. For the other dis- 
tricts the percentages were as follows : North, 44.4, West, 
37.3, South, 34.1, Central, 30.4. North and West London, 
it is needless to say, are the wealthy residential quarters, 
while East London is the home of the " submerged tenth." 
Bethnal Green in East London is one of the poorest quarters 
in the city, and it contained 12.5 per cent, of countrymen; 
while London City, the heart of the metropolitan business 
and commercial interests, contained 39.5 per cent.^ But it 
is a mistake to infer off-hand, as do Mr. Booth's investigator 
and Hansen, that the countrymen constitute the wealthy 
class and the city-born the proletariat. 

In the first place, a large portion of the countrymen resid- 
ing in the wealthy districts are servants, janitors, etc., a class 
which, as will shortly appear, is recruited almost entirely 
from the country. Another large portion are clerks and 
other subordinate employees. But even were the rich them- 
selves largely of outside birth, it remains to be shown that 
they are rural rather than urban-born. Take the newcomers 
in Friedrichstadt, the business centre of Berlin, for instance ; 
they consist not only of provincials but also of foreigners, and 
the latter are more likely than not to be city-born, for as a 
previous chapter showed, long-distance migrants are more 
likely to be urban than rural. And in thickly settled coun- 
tries, a large part of the short-distance migration originates 

1 Booth, op. cit., hi, 121-3. 



372 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



from the smaller cities and towns. The Leipzig census of 
1885, for example, (Theil, II. p. 7, ff.) showed that fully one 
half (50.6 per cent.) of the immigrants had been born in 
places of 2,000 + . 

But the main reason, after all, why the city-born predom- 
inate in the poorest quarters of Berlin, London, New York, 
etc., is that the poorer classes of immigrants have so many 
children, who, of course, are classed as natives of the city. 
The slums of these cities were originally created by the 
flocking in of the most degraded peasant classes, who have 
married and propagated their kind until they now figure in 
the statistics as natives of the city, the product of urban con- 
ditions, the urban proletariat. The fact is amply demon- 
strated by the Vienna statistics, which show that the central 
and wealthy districts contain a larger percentage of immi- 
grants than the outer districts when the children of the im- 
migrants are credited to Vienna ; but when the children are 
credited to the father's birthplace {i. e., place of settlement),, 
it appears that the immigrants predominate in the outer and 
poorer districts of the city.' In Frankfort, again, the heavi- 
est immigration is not into the wealthier, but into the poorer 
districts.' 

^ Rauchberg, " Der Zug nach der Stadt," in Stat. Mon., xix, 162. The per 
centage of immigrants was as follows according to place of — 

Birth. Settlement. 

Central districts 57-35 63.23 

Outer districts 50-53 67.10 

It is not always true, as Hansen assumes, that the centre of a city is its richest 
and most prosperous part; in fact, the reverse holds true in most American cities,, 
it being the well-to-do classes who can afford to live in the suburbs at a distance 
from their shops and ofi&ces. Even in some of the continental cities, where the 
storekeeper usually resides over his store, and the laborer near the factory, this 
relation is beginning to disappear. In Frankfort, for example, the inner city, 
where the business is transacted, receives the largest immigration, but this does 
not prove the truth of Hansen's theory that the immigrants step at once into the 
most important positions, for, as a matter of fact, the leading business men 
(judged by their wealth) dwell in the outer districts. The following table show- 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



373 



Even more conclusive evidence that the wealthy classes 
are not to be identified with the country-born is furnished 
by the statistics of occupation and social rank, contrary to 
the interpretation imposed upon them by Hansen. The 
Berlin census of 1885 shows that the percentage of native 
Berliners was largest in manufacturing and trade, and smallest 
in personal service. But the class of casual laborers also 
contained a large proportion of the city-born, especially 
among females. The summary is as follows : 

Table CLIV, 

Showing the representation of native Berliners in the city's industries, 1885. 

Born in Berlin. Per cent. 

Per cent, of Per cent, of of all 

Total, census total. Males, all males. Females, females. 

Population, 1885- 557,226 42.4 265,184 42.0 292,042 42.8 

Dependents 391,819 60.6 157,781 82.5 234,038 51.4 

In all occupations 165,407 24.74 107,403 24.31 58,004 25.57 

(1-24) Industries 112,317 29.53 80,321 27.59 31,996 35-87 

(25) Personal services... 7,683 8.78 1,653 10.68 6,030 8.72 

(26) Casual laborers 20,428 26.51 11,791 22.37 8,637 35.5 

(27-38) Liberal profes- 
sions a .... 10,993 16.01 8,809 14.33 2,184 30'75 

(39) Free income 11,898 26.5 4,696 21.8 7,202 30.7 

(40) Not given 2,088 20.4 133 18.5 1,955 ^°-^ 

a Professions, without mil- 
itary 10,011 20,9 7,827 19.3 2,184 30.75 

ing the distribution of the male immigrants to the city in a single year (1891) 

.will make this clear (Bleicher, II, p. 37, and I, pt. 2, table 35) : 

Am't of income tax 

Immigration. Population. per taxpayer. 

1891. iSqo. Marks. 

Old city 25.18 15.24 8.8 

New city 25.92 19.69 12.1 

Southwest 7.39 4.22 13. 1 

West end 2.17 3.56 11. 2 

Northwest 3.59 6.78 16.4 

North end 6.94 11. 14 16.8 

Northeast 8.55 12.19 12.8 

East end '. 5.96 7.62 13.5 

Bornheim 2.90 5.90 8.4 

Sachsenhausen-Inner 5.12 6.19 9.2 

" " -Outer 6.8 7.47 14.3 

1 00.0 ico.o 12.0 

The most wealth is in the Northwest district and North End, where immigra- 
tion is proportionately the lowest. 



374 '^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Explanations. 
The source of all the Berlin statistics is the census of 1885 : Die Bevolkerungs-, Geiverbe-, und 
Wohmmgsanfnahtne vom 1 Dez. 188$ in. der Stadt Berlin, itn Auftrage, etc., herausgegeben 
von Richard Boeckh, Berlin, iSgo,^. It is impracticable to refer to volume and page, as com- 
putations have been made from many different places The numbers in parenthesis refer 

to the official classification of occupations. The term " casual laborers " is a translation of 
" Arbeiter ohne nahere Angabe;" "free-income" of " Ohne Beruf," most of this class bemg 
rentiers ssvA pensioTidre or students (table CLV). The 40th group, " Ohne Berufangabe," con- 
tains about 1,000 persons in hospitals, prisons, etc. The other German expressions translated arc 
as follows: Entrepreneurs or undertakers, " Selbststandige ; " emploj'ees, " Abhangige " Each 
of the 40 classes of occupations contains several minor groups which ought to be mentioned. The 
entire classiiication is admirable. 

Table CLV. 

Occupations of Berliners, 1885. 

Males. Females. 

Percentage thereof Percentage thereof 

I. Industries (1-24) : Total. Berlin-born. Total. Berlin-born. 

1. Trade (19) 60,494 28.34-]-' i3>53i 29-SS— ' 

2. Clothing, etc. (15) 36)516 15.83 — 63,005 3S.88-f 

3. Metal working (7) • 32,122 yj.di^ 505 52.87 4- 

4. Wood working (13) 3i)973 32-i5-f 664 48.78-I- 

5. Building trades 1 16) 27,978 16.53 — 25 44.00-I- 

6. Food supplies (14) 18,562 18.92 — 1,128 32.27 + 

7. Transportation (22) 15.456 15-64 — 210 29.52-I- 

8. Paper and leather (12) 13.324 41.03-r 1.703 61.59 + 

9. Machinery, tools, etc. (8) 12,050 36.93+ 162 45.67 + 

10. Hotels and restaurants (23I 11,586 13.38 — 1.477 i4'i5 — 

II. Printing (17) 9,178 5S-I5+ 45i 59-42+ 

12. Textile (11) 7.405 42.63 I- 3.739 50.26 + 

13-15. Clay and stone, chemical, heat 

and light (6, 9, 10) 6,753 3I-9+ 162 37-6 + 

16-20. Agr., gardening, fishing, mining 

(1-5) 2,985 18.00 — ,208 30.0+ 

21. Art industries (18) 2,715 60.11+ 64 39.06+ 

22. Insurance (20) 1.444 23.62 — i o. — 

23. Peddling (21) 102 16.68 — 62 12.90 — 

24. Amusements (24) 513 3I.3S+ 108 22.22 — 

Total (1-24) 291,156 27.59 89,205 35.87 

11. Liberal professions (27-38) total.... 61,516 14-33 — 7.^°'' 3°-75 + 

1. Army and navy (37) 20,607 4-79 — ° °- — 

2. Public adminis. (34, 35, 38) 13.124 14.00 — 78 19.2 — 

3. Rys., telegraphs, post (27, 28) ii,7^9 15.5 — 103 22.3 — 

4. Teachers (30) 3,802 17.26 — 3.648 39.09+ 

5. Arts (31) 3,628 41-46+ 1.400 33-85 + 

6. Legal prof. (36).'. 3,069 23.50 — o o. — 

7. Literary prof. (32) 3,003 27.93+ 78 25.64-1- 

8. Medical prof. (29^ 2,035 18.08 — 1.790 12.96 — 

9. Clerical prof. (33) 529 17.20 — 4 o. — 

III. Rentiers (39) 10,938 24.0 — 14,280 32.8 + 

Students (39) 8,292 17.0 — 1.117 24.08 — 

* The plus and minus signs in these columns indicate that the percentage is above or below the 
average in all occupations. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 375 

Table CLV presents in a clearer light the facts we are 
seeking, A few words will suffice to state the position of 
the 226,885 women engaged in gainful occupations in Berlin 
in 1885. As shown by the table 89,205 are found in the 
general industries, and the table also shows that the in- 
dustries that absorb nine-tenths of these are the clothing- 
manufacture, trade (store-keeping or clerking), and the 
textile industries. Nearly as many (73,335) are found in 
personal service, and the remainder are chiefly classed as lab- 
orers (24,336) or as living on free income, the latter including 
rentiers and students. A few are also in the literary pro- 
fessions. The percentage of Berlin-born women in these 
eight groups is as follows : 

Servants 8.72 

Students 24.08 

Trade 29.55 

Liberal professions 30-75 

Rentiers 32.8 

Laborers 35.5 

Clothing manufactures 35-88 

Textile industries 50.26 

The largest percentage of native Berlin women is found in 
the lowest skilled, worst-paid industries. Even the domestic 
servants, who are chiefly immigrants, enjoy an economic 
condition superior to that of the poor sewing-women engaged 
in the ready-made clothing business ; nor are they much 
poorer than the factory operatives in the textile industry. 
In trade, moveover, the native women are more often clerks 
than employers, their percentage in the two ranks being 
respectively 39.4 and 22.7.^ Similarly, in the clothing 
manufacture: undertakers, 11,507 out of 36,682 or 31.4 per 
cent.; employees 11,783 out of 28,323 or 41.6 per cent. 

^ Of the 7,948 female undertakers, 6,146 are immigrants and 1,802 Berlin-bornj 
of the 5,583 employees, 3,386 are immigrants and 2,197 Berlin-born. 



376 "^H^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Indeed, the social rank of the native Berlin women in the 
whole group of industries 1-24 is inferior to that of the immi- 
grants (Table CLIV). Of the 89,205 women in these occu- 
pations nearly one-half are employees, and of these the 
Berlin-born constitute 42.5 per cent., although they form 
but 30 per cent, of the entrepreneurs and only 25.6 percent, 
of all women actively engaged in work. Among the em- 
ployees, again, there is little encouragement for the city 
woman; 5,940 of the employees are classed as salaried 
officers or superintendents, but as 4,726 of them are in 
mercantile businesses, it is plain that most of them are noth- 
ing but clerks. Nearly 25,000 are ordinary laborers, of 
whom the city-born constitute 35.5 per cent. — an ominous 
sign of a city proletariat. 

Let us now confine our attention to the male population. 
If we add to Table CLV the domestic servants and casual 
laborers, and then arrange the percentages according to 
maxima and minima|of the Berlin-born, we shall have these 
two groups : 

Table CLVI. 

Above the average (24.31). Below the average. 

Art industries 60.1 1 Servants 10.68 

Printing S^-^S Hotel and restaurant 13-38 

Textile industries 42.63 Transportation 15.64 

Arts 41.46 Clothing manufactures 15-83 

Paper and leather 4I-03 Building trades 16.53 

Metal working 37.62 Peddling 16.68 

Machinery, etc • 36.93 Students 17.01 

Woodworking 32.15 Teachers 17.26 

Chemical industries, etc . . • 31.9 Agr., gardening, etc 18.0 

Amusements 31.35 Food supplies 18.92 

Trade 28.34 Lib. professions (excluding 

Literary professions 27.93 military) 19.3 

Casual laborers 22.37 

Legal professions 23.50 

Insurance 23.62 

Rentiers and pensionars. •• 24.00 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



377 



The foregoing table would seem to be a sufficient answer 
to the pessimism of those who regard the London " sub- 
merged tenth " as a type of the city-dweller. The industries 
in which more than the average proportion of Berlin-born 
men are occupied are, almost without exception, the skilled 
trades ; in fact, the very highest percentage is found in the 
art industry. On the other hand, the industries filled with 
immigrants are the low-skilled ones, or trades requiring 
muscular strength more than mental ability. To this 
general rule there is an exception in favor of the liberal 
professions, which in most cases contain an unusually large 
percentage of immigrants. This is to be expected ; the 
cities are the centres of art and culture, and not only attract 
to themselves from the most distant quarters of the land 
students in search of artistic and professional training, but 
retain the best of them after the schooling has been com- 
pleted. 

Neither table makes the distinction between entrepreneur 
and employee for the men engaged in industry. The native 
Berliners apparently make a better showing among the em- 
ployees than among independent workers. It should be 
remarked, however, that most of the latter, although entre- 
preneurs, are not employers, and under modern conditions 
may not be so well situated as employees — especially the 
employees of the higher class (designated as angestellte 
Beamten, or salaried officers, in the tables). The classifica- 
tion of entrepreneurs (males), according to number of men 
employed, results as follows : 

Per cent, thereof. 
Total. Berlin-born. 

With no employees 56,046 21.2 

1-5 " 22,424 23.9 

" more than 5 employees 6,021 31.2 

Total 84,491 22.7 

This shows that in the higher ranks of entrepreneurs the 



378 THE GROWTH OF CI TIES 

native Berliners are stronger than they are among the em- 
ployees of all classes, except apprentices. At the same 
time, it must be noted that this superior showing of the city- 
born among large employers is confined principally to store- 
keeping, inn-keeping and the clothing manufacture ; it exists 
in a small degree, if at all, in the skilled trades. 

It can hardly be said that the Berlin statistics favor Han- 
sen's contention, and even his own manipulations of them 
have failed to put his cause in a good light. The recent' 
Austrian statistics ^ are even less useful to Hansen's theory : 

Table CLVII. 

Birth-place. 

Vienna. Elsewhere Foreign Percentage oi 

Both in Austria, countries. females in 

Males. Females. sexes. Total, the group. 

Undertakers 27.5 42.3 34.4 49.2 16.4 100 46.8 

Salaried employees. 35.7 44 5 36.7 47.8 15.5 lOO 8.5 

Artisans 30.4 44.4 34.4 57.4 8.2 100 28.5 

Unskilled laborers . . 23.6 13.4 21. i 66.4 12.5 100 24.4 

Servants 16.8 12.2 12.4 73.3 14.3 100 94.3 

All occupations 30.2 42.7 34.2 54.1 I1.7 100 31.4 

Dependents 83.8 54.1 63.3 30.1 6.6 100 68.9 

Total population .. . 44.0 45.4 44.7 45.2 lo.i 100 51.5 

The term "undertakers" here designates all persons carry- 
ing on independent enterprises, whether they employ other 
labor or not. The class of higher employees (Angestellte) 
includes approximately all persons on a salary, i. e., not only 
public officials, but also the superintending /^r5^;z«<?/ of com- 
merce and industry. The artisans (qualificierte Arbeiter) 
are the skilled laborers, the workmen of special training or 
of those engaged in a particular occupation. The unskilled 
laborers (Taglohner) include other workmen receiving wages, 
and the servants (Dienende fiir personUche Zwecke) are those 
who render personal service.^ The dependents include all 

^Rauchberg, Stat. yl/(3w.,xix, 639, 625. The military is excluded, except from 
the last line. 
* Ibid., 164. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS T^jg 

persons not engaged in a gainful occupation. Inasmuch as 
this class is in large part composed of children, few of whom 
are immigrants, it contains a large percentage of native 
Viennese. 

It must be admitted that hard and fast lines between social 
ranks cannot be drawn. Such will apply especially to the 
distinction between artisans and other laborers. But the 
Austrian statisticians are among the acutest in the world and 
may be trusted to have done their best. What the table 
shows conclusively is that the native Viennese are the leaders 
in industry. While they constitute 34.2 per cent, of all oc- 
cupations, they form a larger percentage of the higher ranks, 
and only 21.1 per cent, of the unskilled laborers and 12.4 of 
the domestic servants. On the other hand, the immigrants 
from other parts of Austria average higher in the two lower 
ranks and do not hold their own in the two higher ranks. 
Their largest percentage is in the class of servants, of which 
they form nearly 75 per cent. The real foreigners, on the 
other hand, show a dilTerent grouping ; while their percentage 
in the higher ranks exceeds their general average ( 1 1 .7 1 ) , the 
same is true, though in a less degree, of the two lower ranks, 
while a deficiency is shown in the ranks of artisans. The 
probability is that the lower ranks are filled with Hungarians, 
who have but a short distance to travel, while the contribu- 
tions to the upper classes come from a long distance, which 
exercises a selective influence in favor of the highest talent. 
If Hansen's theory of urban degeneration were true, we 
should see the largest percentage of native Viennese in the 
ranks of day laborers and servants ; instead of which, we 
find the largest percentage among the higher employees. 
It may be observed, however, that Vienna's showing is less 
favorable when we separate the sexes, for it appears that 
among the native men there is a greater proportion of un- 
skilled laborers and servants than among the native women. 



38o 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



The male servants, however, form but six per cent, of all 
servants {vide the last column in table CLVII), and the fe- 
males but a fourth of the unskilled laborers, so that the 
general total is not much altered; but the percentage of 
native men among independent workers (27.5) now falls 
below the general average (30.2). It is singular that the 
native Viennese women should have gained so much more 
ground than the men, so that they have a larger percentage 
in the higher ranks and a smaller percentage in the lower 
ranks than do the native men. 

The distribution of the Berufsthdtigen, shows the foregoing 
facts in another light :^ 

Table CLVIII. 
Birth-place. 

Elsewhere in Elsewhere Foreign 

Vienna. Lower Austria, in Austria, countries. Total. 

Undertakers 311 277 240 386 285 

Higher employees IC9 60 87 126 95 

Artisans 516 464 490 320 474 

Unskilled laborers 17 30 31 27 26 

Servants 47 169 152 141 120 

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 

Of all the native Viennese engaged in gainful occupations, 
52 per cent, are in the artisan class, while the general 
average is only 47.4. In the ranks of independent workers 
and higher employees, the percentage of native Viennese 
also exceeds the general average, which in turn is higher 
than that among the persons born elsewhere in Austria. The 
foreign countries, as might be expected, have the largest 
percentage in the two higher ranks. In the two lower ranks, 
the native Viennese have 6.4 per cent., the lower Austrians 
19.9 per cent., those born in other parts of Austria 18.3 per 
cent, and the foreigners 16.8 per cent. The natives of Vienna 

' Rauchberg, xix, 165. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



381 



contribute far less than the immigrants to the lower social 
classes. 

Detailed statistics published by the city of Frankfort do 
but confirm the deductions already made. Frankfort's fame 
rests upon her great financial and commercial interests, and 
it is noteworthy that the percentage of outsiders among her 
merchants and bankers is exceedingly low.' 

So much for the comparative industrial ability of the city- 
born and the immigrants. Such a comparison cannot give 
a complete answer to the allegation that the native city 
element is pushed to the wall by the country-born, for the 
men whom our statistics designate as " natives " may be the 
sons or grandsons of immigrants.^ Nevertheless, it shows that 
the first generation of natives, at least, has not deteriorated ; 
on the contrary, they hold their own against the newcomers 
in Vienna, Frankfort and Berlin. Finally, the lower ranks are 
not filled up with the city element, as Hansen's theory in any 
form would demand. The only approach to it is in the case 

'Bleicher, p. 14. Taking the adult male population (over 15 years) of 1890,. 
it is found that to every 100 born in Frankfort there were the following numbers 
born elsewhere : 

Agriculture, gardening, fishing 66.3 

Trade and communication 291.2 

Industry 421.3 

Personal service and unskilled labor 666.5 

All others 417-3 

Total 374.7 

The largest proportion of the immigrants is found among the servants and day 
laborers, and the smallest among persons engaged in trade (excepting the unim- 
portant agricultural group) . In the higher branches of commerce the proportion 
of immigrants is still lower, being 240.3 among merchants generally, and 163 
among bankers, commission agents, etc. In industry and manufactures, more- 
over, the higher grades are filled with native Frankforters. 

^ It is however by the use of similar statistics (Berlin !) that Hansen attempts to- 
prove the truth of his contention that the country-born preponderate in the higher 
classes of city occupations and in the higher ranks of each occupation, while the 
city-born fill the lower ranks (cf. Die drei Bevolkerungsstufen, 150 ff). 



382 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



of women in Berlin, and female labor is in so unsettled a con- 
diton in modern industry that too much weight should not be 
laid on this fact. It should also be mentioned that if the im- 
migrants seem to obtain a relatively large number of the 
higher positions among the employed, they are helped to- 
ward this end by the immigration of able men from other 
cities. The best ability trends toward the capital, — and not 
all the best ability by any means comes from the rural dis- 
tricts. On the whole, it seems reasonable to deny the truth 
of the generalizations made by Mr. Smith on basis of infer- 
ences drawn from East London, — that the great city tends 
to create a " submerged tenth " of the industrially inefficient, 
pauper and criminal type. Mr. Smith's statistics are too 
fragmentary to have weight against the complete returns of 
the cities of Vienna, Berlin and Frankfort.' 

There is in fact much to be said in favor of the opposite 
view, that the migration of countrymen to the city actually 
injures the city populations and threatens the existence of 
city civilization. This is especially true of American cities 
so far as regards a large class of European immigrants. But 
here as elsewhere discrimination is imperatively demanded. 
There are few who will afifirm that the migration of American 
country youth to the cities is an evil, so far as the cities 
themselves are concerned. (Whether or not it works injury 
to the nation or the race will be considered later.) The 
youths of the farms and villages in America have not been 
brought up to an inferior standard of life, and while they may 

' According to Mr. Smith, the native Londoners constituted only 30 per cent, 
of the policemen, who receive high wages and stand for the higher class of labor, 
while they amounted to 56 per cent, of the army recruits, who are said to come 
from the unemployed. Forming 46 per cent, of London's adult male population, 
they constituted 59 per cent, of her criminals (prisoners in 1888), 60 per cent, of 
her semi-paupers (those on the lists of the Charity Organization Society), and 
70 per cent, among the casual dock laborers, the residuum of all occupations 
(Booth, op. cii.. Ill, 82-90, 142). 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 38 



not have enjoyed all the material comforts that are the lot of the 
city-bred, they certainly find no difficulty in acquiring a taste 
for them, and are therefore quickly assimilated in the city 
population. With European peasants the question is differ- 
ent, and it may be surmised that their migration is causing 
some trouble in European as well as in American cities. 

Closely related with the question of industrial ef^ciency is 
that of degeneracy. The fragmentary London statistics pre- 
sented by Mr. Smith (supra, p. 382) indicate that Lon- 
doners contribute more than their share both to pauperism 
and to crime ; but the continental statistics demonstrate that 
the countrymen contribute chiefly to the ranks of pauperism. 
Vienna, Leipzig, Frankfort, and Magdeburg have collected 
poor-relief statistics which have been carefully edited by 
eminent statisticians.^ They all show that the proportion of 
paupers in these cities is relatively greater among those born 
outside than those born within the city. Even when one con- 
siders the difference in age classification, the inference holds. 
In Frankfort in 1885, the percentage of paupers to the total 
population in each age-group was largest among the immi- 
grants, except for women of 55 to 65 years of age."" The 
number of paupers to 1,000 of each sex of all ages was as 
follows : 

Male. Female. 

Born in Frankfort 14.82 i8-53 

" elsewhere 43-78 35-04 

Paupers in the population over 26 years of age : 

Born in Frankfort 46.58 5 1 70 

" elsewhere 57'io 47-96 

' For Vienna : v. Inama-Sternegg, Die personlichen Verhdltnisse der Wiener 
Armen nack den Mate^-ialen des Vereiits gegen Verarmu7ig und BetieleiyVi&waz, 
1892; for Leipzig, Ileft xx of the Alitieilmigen des Statistischen Amies der Stadt 
Leipzig: A. Lehr, Individttalsiatistik der offentlichen Armenpflege in Leipzig, 
1886; for Frankfort, Bleicher, (?/. (r?V.,i,pt. 2, ch. 14; for Magdeburg, Silbergleit, 
Armenstatistik, a reprint from the Verwaltungsberichte, i8g2-j, der Stadt Mag- 
deburg. 

^ Bleicher, op. cit., 21 2, and table 38. 



384 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



While pauperism is apparently greater among the adult 
native women than among the immigrants, this simply re- 
sults from the fact that among the immigrants those age- 
classes which are least subject to poverty are very much 
more strongly represented than the older groups where 
poverty makes its inroads. The evidence is decisive, not- 
withstanding the fact that the children of the poorer immi- 
grants are classed with the native population/ 

As regards crime, the statistics of birthplace are too im- 
perfect to warrant any dogmatic conclusions. It is said ^ that 
of the arrests in New York and Paris in 1865, 68 and 70 per 
cent., respectively, were of persons born outside the city. 
The percentage of immigrants in the total adult population 
was probably about the same in New York, probably smaller 
in Paris. 

In 1873, of 2,224 prostitutes counted in Berlin, 44.5 per 
cent, were natives of the city ; 3 at the time, the proportion 
of Berlin-born women in the entire population of the same 
age was probably somewhat smaller. Notwithstanding these 
imperfect figures, representing but a fraction of Berlin prosti- 
tution, it is generally believed that prostitutes come princi- 
pally from the country. 

Hansen's point that the cities have a small natural increase 
or none at all is easily disproved. Dr. Kuczynski, whose 
Zug nach der Stadt is essentially a critique of the Hansen 
theory, shows that none of the larger cities in Germany has 
had a deficit of births for a five-year period in the last 
quarter century.'^ In several years the ratio of births to 

' It needs not be said that among the permanent paupers, the city-born pre- 
dominate; for permanent aid is given only to such immigrants as have acquired 
settlement in the city. 

^ Von Oettingen, Morahtatistik, 3d ed., p. 525. 

' Schwabe, Berliner siddiisckes Jahrbuch fur Volkswirthschaft und Siatisiik, 
Erster Jahrgang, p. 60 ff. 

* Op. cit., p. 80. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 385 

deaths has been larger in the great cities than in the Empire 
as a whole,' and in recent years the two ratios have been 
about the same.'' In Bavaria the larger cities have for several 
years had the largest surplus of births of any class of towns ; 
thus the ratio of living births to death was : 3 

Cities of Other Rural 

20,000+. cities. population. 

1888 129 1 10 128 

1889 132 118 137 

1890 134 III 128 

189I 142 120 133 

1892 143 114 132 

1893 141 120 135 

1894 149 124 141 

1895 146 121 144 

But it is needless to pursue this subject farther, in view of its 
extended treatment in a previous chapter. Nor is it neces- 
sary to tarry long in discussing Hansen's proposition that 
the native population of a city is completely replaced in two 
generations by the influx of outsiders, which is based on the 
premise that the population of the average large city always 
contains at least 50 per cent, of country born. The propo- 
sition is not demonstrable by statistics even in the case of a 
stationary population ; and as city populations grow rapidly, 
it may well be that the natives increase in absolute numbers, 
although constituting a decreasing proportion of the entire 
population of the city.* 

' For example, in 1890 the great cities had I48.2 births for every 100 deaths, 
the Empire, 146.7; in 1894 the respective ratios were 163.4 and 160.9. {Il>id., 80.) 

^Ibid.,ZT,. "/(JtV., 194. 

* Dr. Kuczynski's discussion of this point (pp. 71-8) is not restricted to Han- 
sen, but includes also Ammon and others. He mentions the fact that Berlin in 
1840 contained 165,722 native Berliners; 50 years later (1890) there were 
39,782 survivors. Naturally some of them had descendants, even if Hansen re- 
fused to admit it. Paris, on the other hand, is not self-sustaining, and Lagneau 
reckons that if left to itself, it would diminish 50 per cent, each generation, and 
in 18 generations or 5^ centuries would be effaced. (Essai de statistique anthro- 
pologique sur la population parisienne.) 



386 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Of rather more interest is Hansen's final point about the 
dying out of the real city-makers, — the intellectual, mercan- 
tile, employing class.' In order to clear the ground for his 
case, he first attempts to prove that the only cities which 
provide their own natural increase are the factory cities, which 
require only " hands," and are supplied with the progeny of 
the proletariat; while commercial cities, where the intel- 
lectual ability identified with the middle class is concentrated, 
are dependent for their growth upon immigration.' A ker- 
nel of truth may doubtless be found in this proposition, as 
reference to Chapter VI on the natural movement of popula- 
tion will show. 

But this is the only statistical proof Hansen advances in 
favor of his theory that the intellectual workers are incapable 
of self-continuation. For the rest, he quotes proverbs about 
wealth not remaining in a family for more than three genera- 
tions, about the disappearance of great mercantile families,^ 
etc., and instances the rise of new men into the ranks of the 
" captains of industry," etc. The reasons he gives for the 
dying out of the merchant princes and directors of industry 
are failure of intellect, causing them to sink into the prole- 
tariat, and late and infrequent marriages and consequent 
small families. It is not a necessary consequence of the 
latter, however, that fewer children should be reared by the 
prosperous classes than are reared by the poorer classes with 
their larger families. The Massachusetts statistics already 
presented do indeed indicate that the diminution in infant 
mortality in small and well-nurtured families is too slight to 

^ Drei Bevolkerungsstufen, Bk. iii, ch. 4, 5, esp. pages 174- 180. 

* Op. ciL, 27, 39, 208, 209. 

' It may not be out of place here to observe that the export hand-book of 
Hamburg, the great German commercial centre, contains a list of 62 firms who 
were in business in Hamburg in the eighteenth century. Details of their careers, 
with old documents, etc., will be found in Hamburgs Handel und Verkehr : 
IlluUrirtes Export Handbuch der Borsen-Halle, iSgj-gg, i, 438. 



/' 

/ 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



387 



counterbalance the diminution in fecundity; as Dr. Crum 
remarks, " foresight and prudence seem to exercise a more 
powerful influence in restricting fecundity than in reducing 
infant mortality." But the careful study of marriage statis- 
tics according to social groups of the population which was 
made in Copenhagen by Rubin and Westergaard, leads to 
the conclusion that the upper classes, with a low birth-rate, 
often bring up as many children as do the lower classes, with 
a high birth-rate. Comparing the rates of the several classes 
or social groups with that of the fifth class (factory opera- 
tives, day laborers, sailors, etc.) as a standard (100), the 
following relations are found to exist: ' 

Births. Survirals. 

Class I 97 109 

" 2 94 97 

" 3 84 90 

'• 4 90 94 

" 5 100 100 

The subject of the preservation of an intellectual aristoc- 
racy which shall add to human knowledge and lead the 
human race in its progress, has been ably discussed,^ and it 
must be admitted that the trend of opinio|i is against the 
conclusion reached by Rubin and Westergaard in their 
authoritative investigation of the marriage statistics of a 
single city.3 Sir Francis Galton is inclined to the opinion 

' Statistik der Ehen, p. 1 22. The first class consists of employers and profes- 
sional men; the second of independent artisans, small tradesmen, superintend- 
ents, etc.; the third of teachers, public officials, etc.; the fourth of clerks, 
servants, etc, 

''■ See the admirable discussion by Professor Marshall, Principles of Economics^ 
3d ed., pp. 283-5. 

' But Dr. Engel, who investigated the marriage statistics of Saxony, reached a 
similar conclusion. He says : " We derive from this investigation the conviction 
that while indeed more children are born from a marriage in the industrial pop- 
ulation than from one in the agricultural population, nevertheless the children of 
the latter have a greater vitality." (Cf. Wappaus, Allg. Bevolkerungsstaiistik, ii, 
487.) 



388 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



that while the "upper" classes are capable of producing 
large families, they either consciously refuse to do so, or else 
marry heiresses who are of course hereditarily unproductive. 
The Spencerian school takes the ground that the higher the 
development of the individual, the smaller his capacity for 
reproduction, etc. The salvation of society therefore depends 
upon a mobility sufificient to permit or even encourage the 
rise of individuals from the lower to the upper social ranks. 
The process of recruiting the real aristocracy of ability and 
character must be unimpeded. And it is the concentration of 
population in cities which best promotes the process of bringing 
capable men to the front. Here is the one kernel of truth in 
Hansen's work, — the cities are the instruments of natural 
selection. As such they may be destroyers of human vigor, 
but not in the sense understood by Hansen. It is rather a 
social service that they perform in weeding out the incapable 
and inefficient, while advancing the more capable members of 
society. Let us briefly consider Hansen's suggestive theory 
of the Bevolkerungs Strom, which may help us in reaching a 
right conclusion concerning the process of natural selection. 
Society, according to the Hansen theory, consists of the 
three classes, — (i) land-owners; (2) intellectual workers or 
the middle class, including artisans, merchants, and profes- 
sional men; (3) the unskilled laborers and factory opera- 
tives, or the city proletariat. The land- owning, agricultural 
class is the great reservoir of vigor and life in any nation ; 
but it cannot hold itself together, for the reason that men 
multiply more rapidly than land can be made. The land- 
owning class is therefore continually throwing ofif a portion 
of its recruits and these form the current of migration to the 
cities. There they enter the middle class and struggle up- 
ward toward leadership ; but no family can long sustain the 
rigor of city competition, and eventually deteriorates whether 
it has attained the highest position or not. Hence there is op- 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



389 



posed to the upward current a downward current of degener- 
ates. The upward current is composed almost wholly of the 
country-bred (offspring of the land-owners), but the down- 
ward current is composed of the city-bred. The reservoir 
which absorbs the survivors in the downward current is the 
class of unskilled laborers or the city proletariat, who multi- 
ply abundantly but never rise in their position. The city thus 
becomes an instrument of social degeneration. It takes the 
crude vigor and vitality of the agricultural population, 
develops and appropriates to itself their highest intellectual 
abilities, and then casts them aside into the ever-increasing 
number of non-efificients. It is obvious that if the cities keep 
on growing at their nineteenth-century rate, they will dry up 
the reservoirs of strength in the population and leave in their 
place an immense proletariat, practically good for nothing. 

Now is it true that cities would stagnate and decay, if the 
stream of migration were stopped? Are they incapable of 
producing the intellect and energy requisite for progress? 
Is it " the result of the conditions of liie in great towns that 
muscular strength and energy get gradually used up ; that 
the second generation of city men is of lower physique and 
has less power of persistent work than the first, and the third 
generation (where it exists), is lower than the second ?"^ 

All of our investigations in the course of the present 
chapter point to the conclusion that the townsman is on the 
average a more efficient industrial unit than the rural immi- 
grant. The city proletariat, contrary to Hansen's theory, 
appears to be recruited from the country-born rather than 
from the real city- dwellers. In fact, the countryman coming 
to the city begins a slow ascent, rather than a descent ; his 
children, instead of being men of " lower physique with less 
power of persistent work" advance to a higher rank on the 
industrial and social ladder, while the third generation, in- 

■ H. L. Smith, in Booth, op. cil., iii, no. 



390 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Middle 


" Stud- 




classes. 


ierten." 


Total. 


H 


4 


100 


49 


lO 


100 


35 


25 


100 



Stead of dying out, is still more capable and efficient. This 
is also the opinion of Ammon, Hansen's most famous dis- 
ciple, whose researches in Carlsruhe may be summarized 
thus (without guaranteeing their value for generalizations) : ^ 

Lower 
classes. 

Immigrants S2 

Their sons 41 

" grandsons 40 

As a class, the country immigrants do not at once assume 
the higher positions in the economic organism, but enter the 
unskilled occupations where muscular strength and vigor are 
in demand. Among the rural immigrants there are indeed 
some few skilled artisans, but there are very few cases of 
country laborers becoming artisans in the cities.' The im- 

' G esdhchaftsordnuiig, 145. 

- H. L. Smith who investigated the cases of 500 village emigrants (the great 
majority of whom moved to London), found only six such cases. His table show- 
ing the occupations of the 500 migrants before and after migration, confirms the 
conclusions in the text, which are based chiefly on the more precise data of Con- 
tinental cities. The table may be condensed as follows : 

Percentage of migrants in the occupations named: 

Before After 

migration. 
A. Outdoor labor. 

Laborer 64.0 16.9 

Other 5.5 25.2 

B. Service — personal and domestic 5.8 15.8 

C. Public service — soldier, policeman, etc 14.5 

D. Building trades 8.3 6.4 

E. Other industries ' 7.6 9.1 

F. Retail dealers and innkeepers 7.8 9.7 

G. Miscellaneous: 

Clerk 7 1.5 

Teacher, etc . .3 .9 

100. 100. 

— Booth, Life and Labour of the People, iii, 140. 

" In the original table this group as designated is " other skilled occupations," 
but, as Mr. Smith observed, the soap, chemical, gas-works, etc., here included 
probably employ many ordinary laborers. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



391 



migrants at first take up with such menial occupations as 
domestic and personal service, work in hotels and restaur- 
ants, postmen, cab-drivers and truckmen, and, in some cases, 
with the building trades. It is only gradually that they work 
their way into the skilled industries, in which the city-born 
have a far larger representation. An illustration of this fact 
is given in the following figures from the Berlin census of 
1885, showing the distribution, for both sexes, of the erwerhs- 
thdtigen native Berliners, immigrants, and immigrants within 
the five years just preceding the census : ^ 

Table CLIX. 

Berlin-born. Total Immigrants. Immigrants in 1881-5. 
Male. Female. Total. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. 
Industry, trade, trans- 
portation 748 551 679 631 339 533 580 228 453 

Common laborers ... no 149 123 122 93 113 94 59 81 

Domestic servants .. . 4 89 35 13 375 135 21 593 229 

Other servants 11 15 12 24 23 24 26 12 21 

Military 9 ... 6 58 ... 39 135 ... 86 

Public service 73 38 61 99 29 75 78 27 59 

No profession 45 158 85 52 141 82 67 81 72 

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 i,coo 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 

And just as the newcomers work their way up from the 
unskilled into the skilled industries, so do they rise from the 
ranks of employees into those of undertakers and employers. 
The immigrants who had been in Berlin five years or less in 
1885 formed 29.3 per cent, of the working population, but 
only 12 per cent, of the entrepreneurs, and only 5.5 per cent, 
of the entrepreneurs who employed more than five workmen. 
On the other hand the older immigrants, who had been in 
Berlin over 15 years, constituted 22.7 per cent, of those in 
gainful pursuits, 40.9 per cent, of the entrepreneurs, and 45 
per cent, of the large employers : 

^ Briickner, Allg. St. Archiv, i, 645. 



392 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table CLX. 

Popu- Entrepreneurs (males), 

lation All occupations. with number of employees. 

Residence in Berlin. 1885. Females. Males. o. 1-5. Over 5. Total. 

Less than 5 years 21.6 32.6 29.3 13.0 g.g 5.5 11.7 

S-15 years 19.5 22.1 23.7 25.4 24.8 18.7 24.7 

Over 15 years 16.5 19.7 22.7 40.4 41.4 44.6 40.9 

Total immigrants 57.6 74.4 75.7 78.8 76.1 68.8 77.3 

" Berlin-born 42.4 25.6 24.3 22.7 23.9 31.3 21.2 

Total 100. o too.o loo.o 100. o loo.o loo.o 100. o 

Notwithstanding such facts, it is commonly held that city- 
life produces dwarfed, stunted men and degenerates ; for- 
tunately, statistics of physical infirmities exist which dispel 
such fears about the effects of city life. It is now generally 
recognized that a connection exists between congenital blind- 
ness, congenital deaf-mutism and congenital imbecility or 
feeble-mindedness, i. e., they are all results of impaired con- 
stitutional vigor. Now recent statistics show that these in- 
firmities are rather more prevalent in rural districts and small 
towns than in the cities, while insanity, which is rather a 
nervous than a bodily failing, prevails chiefly in the cities. 
From the exceedingly valuable report by Dr. John S. Billings 
on the Insane, Feeble-minded, Deaf and Dumb, and Blind, 
in the United States at the Eleventh Census, the following 
figures are derived, showing the ratio of the specified classes 
to 100,000 of the population: 

United Cities of 

States. 50,000 J . Authority. 

Insane 170.0 242.9 Tables 151, 153. 

Feeble-minded 152.7 74.3 " 172,174. 

Deaf mutes 64.8 48.7 " 189,191. 

Blind 80.8 53.5 " 223,225. 

These results are confirmed by European statistics.^ And 
lest it be inferred that the difficulty of apportionating inmates 

'Levasseur, La population fianfaise, i, 345; Rauchberg, Die Bevolkerung 
Oesterreichs, 232 ff. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



393 



of institutions to their real home, city or country, impairs the 
value of the statistics, it may be well to refer to the classical 
work of Dr. Mayr, in which these classes in Bavaria were 
distributed according to birth-places.' For the last three 
classes, Dr. Mayr found geographical differences, but for the 
insane the local variation was almost entirely due to the size 
of the town. His results may be summarized thus : 

Rural districts. Cities. Munich. 

Insane 88.1 185.4 221. 

Feeble-minded 153-3 '^36-5 130. 

Deaf and dumb 91. i 73.3 59. 

Blind 78.6 1 19.8 117. 

It is clear then that while city life produces, or at least 
maintains fewer of the severer physical infirmities, like blind- 
ness, deaf-mutism and idiocy, than does the country, it does 
favor the increase of insanity. 

The average height and girth of chest are significant cri- 
teria of physical vigor ; and of the two, the latter is the more 
important, since it is indisputable that the strongest indi- 
viduals and races are those that have the greatest chest 
capacity and lung power. 

As regards stature, the preponderance of opinion in the 
past has been that city life exerts a depressing effect upon 
the individual.^" The city of Hamburg is below the average 
for Germany, Geneva below the average for Switzerland, and 
Madrid has almost the shortest male population in all Spain. 
Ammon, the Carlsruhe anthropologist, holds the contrary 

^Die Verbreitung der Blindheit, der Taubstummheit, des Blddsinns und des 
Irrsinns in Bay em. XXXV Heft der Beitrage zur Statistik des Konigr. 
Bayerns, iSyy, pp. 71-2, 304. Additional references are given in Mayr's 
Bevolkerungsstatistik, § 33. 

''■ This is the conclusion of Professor Ripley, who surveys the evidence in an 
essay (" Racial Geography of Europe, xii, Urban Problems ") in the Popular 
Science Monthly, March, 1898. Most of the statements made above depend on 
the authorities cited by Dr. Ripley {loc, cit., 52 : 602). 



394 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



opinion;^ but his statistical methods are open to grave sus- 
picion,^ and his deductions from observations in Baden are 
not necessarily true of large populations. Dr. Beddoe, the 
leading British authority, declares that " it can be taken as 
proved that the stature of men in the large towns of Britain 
is lowered considerably below the standard of the nation, 
and as probable that such degeneration is hereditary and 
progressive." 3 

Ammon finds, moreover, that the townsman, who works in 
closed rooms and makes little muscular exertion, is consid- 
erably inferior in chest capacity to the countryman.* And 
the difTerence is not due to the migration cityward of 
countrymen below the general standard of the nation, for 
the countrymen residing in cities have a larger girth of chest 
than the city-born. 

From Cato's time down, statesmen have declared that the 
bravest men and most daring soldiers have come from the 
land.5 In 1856, Dr. Engel, the statistician, concluded that 
of 100 candidates examined from the country districts, 26.6 

"^ Die Gesellsckaftsordnung (1895), P* ^^7* Ammon affirms that townsmen 
grow taller and mature earlier than countrj'men as a result of superior nourish- 
ment (Z>»> natiirliche Auslese, 123). It is undoubtedly true that a connection 
exists between stature and economic position ; thus, it is found that the height of 
persons in Paris uniformly increases as one passes from the poorer to the wealth- 
ier wards. In Menilmontant (ward xx), where 80 per cent, of the funerals are at 
public expense, the average height was 1.637 metres; in the Opera (ix), with 
only 27 per cent, of public funerals, the average was 1.660 m. — Manouvrier, " Sur 
la Taille des Parisiens," Bulletin de la Soc. d^Antkrop. 3d ser., ix, 168. 

'' Cf . Kuczynski, 1 24-9. 

' On the Bulk and Stature of Man in Great Britain (1867), p. 180. 

* Die natiirliche Auslese, 170. 

' M. Porcius Cato, de Rustica, c. i : Foriissimi viri et milites strenuissimi tx 
agricolis gignuntur, minimeque male cogitantes. 

Plinius, Hist. Nat., Lib. 18, c. 5. 

Mhnoires de Maximilien de Bethune, Due de Sully, etc. (Lond., 1747), T. ii, 
p. 289. 

Engel, " Die physische Beschaffenheit der militS.r pflichtigen Bevolkerung im 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



395 



were declared fit for service, as against 19.7 from 100 urban 
candidates. 

Now it is to be observed that the believers in town degen- 
eracy base their arguments on antiquated statistics. There 
can be no doubt that down to very recent times the health 
and vigor of urbanites compared unfavorably with that of 
men who worked in the open air, just as their death-rates 
did.' But in the last quarter century the evidence in both 
cases has changed. In 1874 a French authority '^ declared 
that fitness for army service depends less on density of popu- 
lation than on wealth, climate, daily life.^ Health and vigor 
may always be preserved if men in cities will make proper 
provision for open-air exercise, cleanliness and a pure food 
supply. Professor Marshall, who is not afraid of looking the 

Konigr. Sachsen," in Zeit. des Sta{. Bureaus des K. Sachs. Ministeriums des 
/nnern, 1856, Nr. 4-7 (esp. pp. iii, 112). 

E. Helwing: " Ueber die Abnahme der Kriegsiiichtigkeit der angehobenen 
Mannschaften, namenilich in der Alark Branden burg, l&erlin, i860. 

^ Exceptions, however, can be found in former centuries, A recent writer has 
called attention to the facts that the city-bred infantry of the Flemish towns was 
more than a match for the best troops French chivalry could bring against them 
in 1302, and that the citizen soldiers of southeastern and eastern England in the 
War of the Roses gave the victory to the Yorkists over the masses of peasants 
and huntsmen of the North and West. — Contemporary Review (Oct., 1891), 60: 
554- 

- Art. Recruitment, Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicates, 3d 
series, vol. ii. 

' Taking the three densest departments of France and comparing them with the 
three least dense, it was found that the number of men who had to be examined 
to secure 1,000 soldiers was (^Ibid., 644, 646) : 

Pop. per sq. Number 

kilometer. examined. 

Seine 64.5 i>790 (Paris) 

Nord 3.5 1,815 (Lille, Roubaix, etc.) 

Rhone 3.5 1,776 (Lyons) 

Hautes Alpes 5 2,580 

Lazere 3 2,050 

Basses- Alpes 3 2,190 



396 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



evils of town life in the face, is right when he says that " it is 
not to be concluded that the race is degenerating physically, 
nor even that its nervous strength is, on the whole, decaying. 
On the contrary, the opposite is plainly true of those boys 
and girls who are able to enter fully into modern outdoor 
amusements, who frequently spend holidays in the country, 
and whose food, clothing and medical care are abundant and 
governed by the best knowledge,"^ 

But after all, progress depends less on purely physical 
strength than on moral resolution or nervous strength. In 
the words of the writer just quoted, "the power of sustain- 
ing great muscular exertion depends on force of will and 
strength of character as well as on constitutional strength. 
This energy (strength of man, not of body) is moral rather 
than physical; but yet it depends on the physical conditions 
of the nervous strength. This strength of the man himself, 
this resolution, energy, and self-mastery, or in short this 
'vigor' is the source of all progress: it shows itself in great 
deeds, in great thoughts, and in the capacity for true relig- 
ious feeling.'"* 

Now, it is precisely the high nervous organization of city- 
bred soldiers that has enabled them to last through long 
campaigns as well as or better than countrymen with their 
rude physical health. It made the students of Berlin Uni- 
versity able to bear fatigue better than the average soldier in 
the war of 1 870-1, and rendered the New England store- 
clerks equal to all the strain of Sherman's march to the sea 
in 1864. When to nervous strength is joined the muscular 
development to be found among the athletic middle-class 
youth in American and English suburban towns, one is jus- 
tified in haiUng them as world-conquerors. Seven years ago 
an English writer, referring to the young men of Wimbledom 
and Battersea, near London, had the foolhardiness to eulo- 

^ Principles of Economics, p. 281. ''■ Ibid., 275. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



397 



gize them as future victors of Marathons ;^ but yesterday, 
and he saw his prediction fulfilled as American city lads 
marched to victory on Cuban soil, side by side with the rough 
cowboys of the western plains. 

Having dealt with the subject of physical health and vigor, 
it now remains to consider the influence of city life upon in- 
telligence and morals. 

Education. — As regards education, it must be obvious that 
the agglomeration of population is more favorable than its 
dispersion can be. In fact, one would naturally turn to the 
cities and towns for the best schools, since they alone can 
afiford to provide the expensive advantages incident to the 
grading of pupils and the division of labor educationally. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that the urban schools of the 
United States have 190 class days per annum, and the rural 
schools only 115; and that the attendance in the city is 70 
per cent, of the enrolment, while in the country it is 62 per 
cent. Moreover, the statistics of illiteracy in the United 
States are favorable to the cities, notwithstanding the recep- 
tion by the cities of the bulk of illiterate foreigners. The 
following comparison embraces all of the 28 large cities 
(100,000+) of the United States and the commonwealths in 
which they are situated (Washington, which coincides with 
the District of Columbia, being ranged under Maryland) : 

Percentage of illiterates in the population, io years of age and over, 1890:' 

New York 5.53 Pennsylvania 6.78 

New York 7.69 Philadelphia 4.97 

Brooklyn 3.25 Pittsburg 6.93 

Buffalo 5.38 Allegheny 3.77 

Rochester 3.56 Missouri 9.09 

Illinois 5.25 St. Louis 5.89 

Chicago 4.63 Kansas City 5.78 

' Low, " The Rise of the Suburbs," in Contemp. Review, 60 : 555. 
* iitk Cens., Cotnp. iii, 301, 317. 



398 'J'^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Massachusetts 6.22 New Jersey 6.50 

Boston 5.69 Newark 4.81 

Maryland ^S-TO Jersey City 5.91 

Baltimore 9.80 Minnesota 6.03 

Washington 13.20 Minneapolis 2.39 

California 7.67 St. Paul 4.54 

San Francisco 5.35 Kentucky 21 .65 

Ohio 5.24 - Louisville 10.69 

Cincinnati 4,27 Nebraska 3. 1 1 

Cleveland 6.49 Omaha 2.86 

Louisiana 45»83 Rhode Island 9.76 

New Orleans ^S-TO Providence 7.73 

Wisconsin 6.73 Colorado 5.24 

Milwaukee 5.34 Denver 2.83 

Michigan 5.92 Indiana 6.32 

Detroit 6.66 Indianapolis 6.12 

With very few exceptions (New York City, Pittsburg, 
Cleveland, Detroit), the cities have a better educated popu- 
lation than the rest of the State in which they are situated. 
The difference in favor of the cities is in many instances very 
marked, although in the case of Baltimore, New Orleans and 
Louisville, it is explicable by the different proportions of 
negroes in the population. There can be no doubt about the 
superiority of the city schools, both primary aud secondary. 
Educators in fact now recognize the inferiority of rural 
schools as one of their most pressing problems, and the 
National Educational Association is even now discussing the 
ample report on rural schools presented at its 1897 meeting 
by its Committee of Twelve. 

But the education of the schools forms only a part of a 
man's education. Their discipline must be supplemented by 
outside reading and experience ; alone it too often promotes 
superficiality. And this is the pecuHar danger of urban 
habits of life. The city boy is taught to read, but not to 
think ; the result is seen in the immense constituency of 
" yellow journalism." Country newspapers are trivial 
enough, but they do not descend to the depths of moral 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 399 

degradation of sensational metropolitan journals, manufac- 
tured for city readers. 

Town education has been so well described by Mr. Hob- 
son ' that it would be a loss not to quote his words : 

" That town life, as distinguished from town work, is educative of certain intel- 
lectual and moral qualities, is evident. Setting aside that picked intelligence 
which flows to the town to compete successfully for intellectual employment, 
there can be no question but that the townsman has a larger superficial knowl- 
edge of the world and human nature. He is shrewd, alert, versatile, quicker and 
more resourceful than the countryman. In thought, speech, action, this superior- 
ity shows itself. The townsman has a more developed consciousness, his intelli- 
gence is constantly stimulated in a thousand ways by larger and more varied 
society, and by a more diversified and complex economic environment. While 
there is reason to believe that town work is on the average less educative than 
country work, town life more than turns the scale. The social intercourse of the 
club, the trade society, the church, the home, the public-house, the music-hall, the 
street, supply innumerable educative influences, to say nothing of the ampler op- 
portunities of consciously organized intellectual education which are available in 
large towns. If, however, we examine a little deeper the character of town edu- 
cation and intelligence, certain tolerably definite limitations show themselves. 
School instruction, slightly more advanced than in the country, is commonly 
utilized to sharpen industrial competition and to feed that sensational interest in 
sport and crime which absorbs the attention of the masses in their non-working 
hours; it seldom forms the foundation of an intellectual life in which knowledge 
and taste are reckoned m themselves desirable. The power to read and write is 
employed by the great majority of all classes in ways which evoke a minimum of 
thought and wholesome feeling. Social, political and religious prejudices are 
made to do the work which should be done by careful thought and scientific in- 
vestigation. Scattered and unrelated fragments of half-baked information form a 
stock of 'knowledge' with which the townsman's glib tongue enables him to pre- 
sent a showy intellectual shop-front. Business smartness pays better in the town, 
and the low intellectual qualities which are contained in it are educated by town 
life. The knov.'ledge of human nature thus evoked is in no sense science; it is a 
mere rule-of-thumb affair, a thin mechanical empiricism. The capable business 
man who is said to understand the ' world ' and his fellow-men, has commonly 
no knowledge of human nature in the larger sense, but merely knows from obser- 
vation how the average man of a certain limited class is likely to act within a 
narrow prescribed sphere of self-seeking. Town life, then, strongly favors the 
education of certain shallow forms of intelligence." 

Religion and Morality. — According to the special report of 

^The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 338-9. 



400 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Dr. H. K. Carroll on Statistics of Churches and Religious 
Denominations at the Eleventh Census,^ the cities contain a 
larger proportion of church members, or communicants, 
than do the smaller places ; but on the other hand, the 
cities have by far fewer church buildings, as will be observed 
in the following statistics : 

Communicants (percentage One church edifice 

of total population!. to a pop. of 

United States 32.85 440 

All cities of 25,0004- (124) 37-90 i»439 

Cities of 25,000-100,000 (96) 39-IO i>o52 

" " 100,000-500,000 (24) 3S.90 1,468 

" " 500,000-f- (4) 35-6o 2,147 

Thus the population to a church building steadily increases 
with the size of the city, and it is a question whether the 
seating capacity of the buildings increases in the same ratio. 
It is also noticeable that while the cities have a larger pro- 
portion of communicants than the entire United States, yet 
this proportion steadily diminishes as we pass from the class 
of smaller cities to that of the larger. To put the facts in 
another light they may be thus summarized : 

Ratio to the U. S. 

Population of 124 cities of 25,000-!- 22.5 

Communicants in 124 cities of 25,000-!- 25.72 

Number of church edifices in 124 cities of 25,ooo-(- 6.82 

Value of church property in 124 cities of 25,000-f- 46.13 

Of the leading denominations (numerically), the Roman 
Catholics are strongest in American cities, although the 
Hebrews tend to concentrate in cities even more than the 
Catholics. Of the total strength of the several denomina- 
tions in the United States the following percentages were in 
the cities of 25,0004- in 1890:^ 

' Pp. xxvi and xxvii. 
' Op, cit., p. xxvii. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 40 1 

Jewish (orthodox) 9^•^^ 

" (reformed) 84,57 

German Evangelical Protestant 77-97 

Roman Catholic 48.26 

Unitarians 48.08 

Protestant Episcopal 48.03 

German Evangelical Synod 38.56 

Reformed in America 30.85 

Presbyterian (North) 29.85 

Lutheran Synod. Conference 29.77 

Lutheran General Council 25.75 

Congregational 25.57 

Regular Baptist (North) 25.06 

And since only 22 per cent, of the total population of the 
country is resident in these cities, the denominations above 
mentioned are disproportionately strong in the cities. 

The only statistical measure of morality, as distinguished 
from religion, is negative, being in fact a measure of immor- 
ality, — the amount of vice and crime recorded by the police 
authorities. But first, let us consider the phenomenon of 
suicide. As is generally known, this phenomenon is more 
frequent in the city than in the country/ In the United 
States, as far as we can judge from the imperfect returns of 
vital statistics in the Eleventh Census, the disparity is not so 
great as it is elsewhere ; the rate per i ,000,000 population 
being 92.9 in the cities of registration States, and 80 in the 
rural parts, while in the outside cities it was 126.5.=' The 
following table is from Morselli, Levasseur, von Mayr, etc. : 

Suicides per 1,000,000 population. 

Urban. Rural. Capitals. 

France (1883) 263 172 Dept. of Seine 472 

Prussia (1869-72) 162 97 Berlin '... 191 

Italy (1877) 66 29 Rome, iii; Milan 199 

Norvi^ay (1866-9) 92 72 

Sweden (187 1-5) 167 67 Stockholm 440 

Denmark (1869-75) 283 257 Copenhagen 350 

Belgium (1858-60) 64 34 

Bavaria (1876) 118 104 Munich (1860-69) 19° 

Saxony (1859-63) 317 219 

^ Morselli, Suicide, pp. i6i-l86, esp. 172; Levasseur, La. pop. fran., ii, 133. 
' Vital and Social Statistics, Part i, pages 463-4. 



402 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Without exception, the suicide-rate is higher in the urban 
than in the rural communities, and highest of all in the 
great cities. Botli von Oettingen and Wagner have called 
attention to the excessive rate in the capitals:^ 

St. Petersburg i8o Russia 28 

Vienna 290 Austria 130 

Leipzig 450 Saxony 394 

London 85 England 69 

New York 121-181 United States 32 (?) 

In fact, there seems to be a regular progression in the sui- 
cide-rate from small centres to large centres, as may be seen 
in the following Prussian statistics:* 

Suicides to i,ooo,ocx3 
inhabitants. 

Prussia, 188X-90 202 

" cities of 1 5,000-j- 256 

" " "20-100,000(1892) 247 

" " " ioo,ooo-|- " 308 

" Berlin 329 

The fact that cities contribute more heavily to the num- 
ber of suicides than do rural communities has been estab- 
lished. But it is not to be inferred that those countries 
which have the largest urban popalations also have the 
largest relative number of suicides ; in fact Morselli has 
shown by comprehensive statistics 3 that many of the coun- 
tries in which population is most concentrated {^e.g. England, 
Holland, Belgium), have a low suicide-rate. Race is the 
most important single factor in the production of suicides ; 
hence in the Netherlands the highest suicide-rate is not in the 

* Von Oettingen, Z>/(f Moralstatistik (1882), p. 765; Nagle, Suicide in New 
York City ; Wagner, Die Geseizmassigkeit in den scheinbar ■willki'irlichen mejisch- 
lichen Handlungen vom Standpunct der Statistik, 2 Theil, i, Vergleichende 
Selbstmordstaiistik Europas, etc., Hamburg, 1864. 

'Von Mayr, Art. " Selbstmordstatistik " in Conrad's Hdwbh., ist Sup., p. 700. 

' Op. cit., 170, 157. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



403 



south-western provinces which contain the large cities, but in 
the north-east, where the Germanic element is strong.^ 

The analysis of suicides by occupation shows that the phe- 
nomenon is also connected with the predominant professions. 
Thus, in France the number of suicides per 1,000,000 of pop- 
ulation, is 120 in agriculture, 130 in commerce, 190 in in- 
dustry, 290 among domestic servants, 550 in the liberal 
professions and 2,350 among those of no profession or of 
unknown profession.' Suicide is really one of the penalties 
paid for progress. It is one of the processes of natural 
selection, resulting from failures in the " struggle for exist- 
ence " and is therefore most prevalent where the competi- 
tive struggle is keenest. As cities are the centres of the 
severest competition, they naturally have the largest number 
of suicides. 

It is to be observed, however, that suicide is not increasing 
in the large cities, or at least is increasing less rapidly than 
in the smaller places. Morselli reviews the evidence at 
length and regards it as establishing the " fact that the tide 
of suicides rises in all countries, and especially in the prov- 
inces, whilst it remains stationary or decreases in the great 
and most civilized capitals of Europe."^ 

Criminal statistics undoubtedly put the cities in a bad 
light. In England, for example, the cities have double or 
even quadruple the amount of crime that the rural commu- 
nities have, as will be seen in the following table giving for 
the year 1894 the number of offenses per 100,000 popu- 
lation :4 

' op. Cit.,^-]. 

- Levasseur, ii, 127. 

•' Op. cit., 183. According to the latest English yttdicial Statistics (for year 
1894, published in the 1896 Parliamentary papers), the county of London ranked 
tenth among English counties, with a suicide-rate of ico.6 (p. 47). 

* Jttdicial Statistics, in Pari. Papers, 1896, vol. xciv, p. 24. 



404 ^^-^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table CLXI 

Indictable crimes. 

Offenses against 

Crimes; all persons. Offenses tried summarily. 

indictable Offenses Crimes Crime , ' , 

offenses against of vio- against Drunk- Vagrancy 

reported, property, lence. morals. Assaults. enness. Acts. 

Metropolis 416.7 386.2 10.6 5.9 390.1 637.4 148.8 

Mining counties .... 234.3 214.3 83 8.1 286.8 1,136.7 280.3 

Mf. towns 351-8 332.4 6.6 4.4 272.6 470.1 244.9 

Seaports 643.6 597-9 22.5 8.4 426.0 1,260.8 368.3 

Pleasure towns 265.7 250.4 4.3 4.1 180.5 289.3 82.9 

Agr. counties: 

East " 128.2 iig.i 3.7 3.6 120.3 109.9 55-4 

S.-W. " 182.9 163.5 5.2 8.1 150.1 209.4 155.7 

Home counties 202.1 185.9 4-2 6.5 146.7 245.0 52.2 

Eng. and Wales 296.7 275.9 7-2 6.1 252.2 616.3 191.1 

The vast majority of crimes are against property, having 
numbered 53,621 in a total of 56,281, and these are largely 
larcenies. As regards the graver offenses against the person, 
London occupies a middle rank (murder) and a low rank in 
sexual crimes (rape). 

But it does not appear that crime is increasing dispropor- 
tionately in the cities. The French statistics, for example, 
separate criminals according to their domicile or legal resi- 
dence. In 1 841-5, 38 per cent, of those charged with offenses 
were domiciled in the urban communes (2,000+ pop.), which 
then contained about 23 per cent, of the population. In 
1866-70 the respective percentages were 44 and 31; in 
1 88 1 -5, 46 and 35.^ Crime has therefore increased less 
rapidly than population in the towns.'' 

Our statistics of vice are mainly restricted to the subject 
of illegitimacy. We have indeed just seen in Table CLXI 
that violations of the person are less frequent in the English 

' Levasseur, op. cit., ii, 455. 

'■'Porter {Progress of the AW?(7«, p. 646) figured that between 1805 and 1841 
crime increased by 1,277 P^"^ cent, in 20 agricultural counties of England and 1,252 
in 20 industrial counties. But Leone Levi denies the validity of Porter's pro- 
ceeding, {your, of St. Soc, 1880.) 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



405 



cities than in the rural counties. Illegitimacy, on the other 
hand, appears to center in the cities. It is nearly a half- 
century since Wappaus showed that illegitimacy was about 
twice as great in the cities as in the rural parts of Europe; 
the average percentage of illegitimate births in all births 
being 14.7 in urban populations and ^.6 in the rural.^ The 
difference between city and country is very marked in 
France, and illegitimacy culminates in Paris, where between 
one-fourth and one-third of all the births are illegitimate." 
In 1879-83 there were the following numbers of illegitimates 
per 100 births;* 

Department of the Seine (Paris) 24.1 

Urban population lo.i 

Rural " 4.2 

France 7.4 

Judging from the foregoing statistics, the cities must be 
hot-beds of immorality. But their case is not so bad as it 
seems. It must be re membered that maternity hospitals are 
always located in cities, and many of the women who enter 
these are countrywomen who come to the city to conceal 
their shame. Levasseur is the authority for the statement 
that over one-fourth (4,405) of the illegitimate births in 1884 
(16,137, or "^^'7 percent, of all births) were such cases. He 
says that nearly one-half were the fruits of liaisons, which in 
Paris are regarded as a form of marriage, leaving something 
over one-fourth the alleged number as the real product of 
Parisian immorality. With these deductions, the Paris rate 

'5«/r«, Table CXLVI. 

- Even Paris, however, ranks below some other European cities. In Munich, 
Vienna and Prague one-half the births were illegitimate a few years since, and 
Rome had a percentage of 44.5; Stockholm, 40; Moscow, 38.1; Budapest, 30.5; 
Paris at that time 28.6, and London 3.9. — Levasseur, ii, 4CX)-i. 

' Levasseur, ii, 34. 



4o6 I^HE GROWTH OF CITIES 

would be somewhat less than twice that of the rural popula- 
tions. 

But there is still another factor in the problem, namely, 
the larger proportion of young unmarried women in the 
cities. This factor, taken into consideration, will account for 
much of the city illegitimacy ; in Germany, as we have seen, 
(Table CXLIV) the number of illegitimate births to i,ooo 
unmarried women of child-bearing age is actually less in the 
cities than in the country, and the same fact has been 
observed in Scotland.' On the whole, it is to be doubted if 
the cities are much worse than the rural districts as regards 
illegitimacy; the question cannot be determined definitely 
until other countries furnish the refined rate. In this coun- 
try, unfortunately, no distinction between rural and urban 
populations has been made in the matter of illegitimacy. 

Infanticide, as the European criminal statistics have shown, 
is more prevalent in the country than in the city, while abor- 
tion seems to be less prevalent there. 

Prostitution, regarded as a profession, is certainly a city 
institution, but many social workers doubt whether the 
sexual morality of the country is on a higher plane, from their 
knowledge of the large proportion of prostitutes who were first 
corrupted in country homes. The morals of " wicked Paris " 
have frequently been impeached, but sociologists who know 
the facts declare that a very large part of the Parisian vice is 
supported by travellers and foreign sojourners. If such is 
the case, it is wrong to regard the entire Parisian population 
as immoral. Similarly with other cities: they have a great 
deal of vice, to be sure, but it is the property of a distinct 
class of the population. 

In the United States, the number of drinking saloons af- 
fords a rough index of a town's morality, and the New York 
State figures for 1897 show that while the cities on the whole 

' Levasseur, ii, 206. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



407 



have a larger relative number of saloons than the rural parts, 
the largest cities do not take the lowest rank:' 

No. of saloons per 
1,000 population. 

New York State 3.6 

Rural 2.8 

Urban > 4.5 

Cities of first class ■■* 4,3 

" " second class '^ 4.0 

" " third class * 4.5 

The amount of viciousness and criminality in cities is 
probably exaggerated in popular estimation from the fact 
that the cities have long been under the blaze of an Argus- 
eyed press, so that the worst is known about them. They 
have hitherto overshadowed the evils in the moral life of vil- 
lages, but several recent rural crimes of unwonted atrocity 
have awakened fn the nation a truer realization of the actual 
facts.s Many sociologists have also realized that the rural 
centre is not so "idyllic" as has been imagined.^ 

^ Second Annual Report of the State Commissioner of Excise, for year ending 
Sept. 30, 1897, p. ^°5' 

* New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo. 

' Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, Troy. 

* Thirty-four cities with population ranging (1892) between 8,000 and 50,000. 

* Reference is here made particularly to the assault, robbery and murder of Mrs. 
McCloud of Shelburne Falls, Mass. Note the following specimen of newspaper 
comment on the crime (Hartford Times') : " There is a lesson for our New Eng- 
land communities in the career of Jack O'Neil, the Shelburne Falls hoodlum and 
ne'er-do-well. O'Neil was what the specialists would describe as a true degener- 
ate. He was an idle, worthless, drunken, penniless fellow, hanging around the en- 
trances to the village dramshops (of which Shelburne Falls plainly has too many) , 
sponging his food and lodging out of his mother, a hard-working washerwoman, and 

as sure to develop into a criminal as darkness is to succeed daylight The 

evidence at the trial in Greenfield showed that O'Neil was only one of a gang of 
youthful * bums ' and hoodlums who are tolerated in Shelburne Falls, and whose 
ill-gotten gains furnish considerable support for a lot of cheap and nasty dram- 
shops which disgrace the place. How many other New England villages present 
the same conditions? A good many to our certain knowledge." 

® Vide Prof. Blackmar's studies of the " Smoky Pilgrims " in the American 
yournal of Sociology, January, 1897. 



408 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



But if there is actually a larger criminal and vicious class 
in the cities, as would be a priori expected from the fact 
that the cities are the foci of attraction, it does not follow 
that the danger of contamination is greater. The fact is that 
in the city the crime is localized; it is confined to particular 
classes and the remaining social classes are so much the 
cleaner. There are perhaps relatively more offenses com- 
mitted in the city than in the village,' but not so many more 
offenders. And most people will admit that there is con- 
siderable difference between a society where the same man 
comes before magistrate six times, and another society where 
six men come before the judge once. 

The cities, moreover, have the benefit of an educated pub- 
lic opinion on moral questions which is often effective to 
suppress the beginnings of vice. The power of social opin- 
ion, supported by legislation, has been abundantly demon- 
strated in the transformation of factory labor. There was a 
time when factories were actual " men-consumers," produc- 
ing a morally and physically dwarfed and stunted race. That 
time is forever past in America and England, while to-day 
the worst conditions are found in the home ("sweating") 
industries. The same strong social opinion that wiped out 
factory abuses by the Factory Acts must now be concentra- 
ted on the evils of city life. 

Finally, the fact must not be overlooked that the city af- 
fords more opportunities for the exhibition of virtues as well 
as of vices, and " if our annals of virtue were kept as care- 
fully as our annals of vice, we might find that town life stood 
higher in the one than in the other." Every day the city 
witnesses the performance not merely of acts of generosity 
and self-denial, but of heroic self-sacrifice. Over against the 

1 In using statistics of offenses to compare the moral conditions of different 
places, care must be taken to exclude such offenses as consist merely in a viola- 
tion of a local ordinance, e.g., neglect to clean a sidewalk of snow. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS 



409 



professional criminal is to be put the policeman ; against the 
roue, the fireman who uncomplainingly faces danger and 
death day after day. The records of city charitable soci- 
eties would reveal innumerable deeds of kindness, but would 
still leave unrevealed the thousand and one generous acts of 
service performed by the poor themselves for the relief of 
the unfortunate in their midst. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GENERAL EFFECTS OF THE CONCENTRATION OF 
POPULATION 

I. ECONOMIC EFFECTS 

Before the effects of the concentration of population in 
cities can be treated in their broad and general aspect, with 
reference to the nation or social body as a whole, it will be 
necessary to compare the economic condition of city-dwellers 
with that of rural workers. This can be done but imper- 
fectly by means of statistics of wages, cost of living, etc., be- 
cause averages, in the case of extremes, have little significance. 
An average height of 5 feet 6 inches would be the numerical 
mean between 7 feet and 4 feet, but would not be a true 
average since it approaches neither of the two men compared. 
So with regard to wealth, it is well known that the wealthy 
men of this country dwell in the great cities, and that the 
most degrading poverty is found in the cities. It is almost 
incredible that men in the country should suffer such depri- 
vation and come so near starvation through lack of employ- 
ment, as do masses of the urban population, — at least not in 
this country, where famines are unknown. In Russia or 
India, when the crops fail, a farm laborer may be reduced to 
the direst straits ; but wherever the modern railway has pene- 
trated, agriculturists as well as other classes are relieved from 
fear of starvation. Aside from famines, moreover, it is doubt- 
less true that the economic condition of the Polish Jews, 
Bohemians, etc., now living in New York tenements was con- 
siderably worse when they were living on their farms in 

C410) 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



411 



Europe and had the scantiest clothing, the most wretched 
shelter and most miserable surroundings. Bad as are the 
homes in crowded city tenements, they are an improvement. 
Still, one would say, comparing city and country as we know 
them in the United States, that the most hopeless poverty, as 
well as the most splendid wealth, are found in the cities. 

The Prussian income tax returns show that the income tax, 
which is levied on all single males or heads of families en- 
joying an annual income of 900 marks ($225) or more, is 
paid by a larger percentage of people in the city than in the 
country, — 38.4 per cent, as against 24.4 per cent.^ Among 
the taxpayers, the cities have a larger percentage among the 
higher incomes :' 

Table CLXII. 

Annual income Distribution of each i,ooo taxpayers in 

in marks. Cities. Rural districts. 

900-3,000 429.9 679.5 

3,000-6,000 156.4 124.4 

6,000-9,500 85.5 44.7 

9.500-30.500 1544 65.0 

30,500-100,000 95.1 46.2 

ioo,ooo-f 78.7 40.2 

Total 1 ,000 1,000 

Another method of measurement is to compare the wages 
of unskilled labor in the city and country. Such compari- 
sons have frequently been made, and show that the wages of 
this unspecialized labor are invariably higher in the cities.^ 

' Bleicher, 146. 

"■' See " incoraes for city and country " in Alittheilungen aus der Verwaltung der 
directen Sleuern iin preus. Staat, " Statistik der Einkommensteuerveranlagung," 
1892-3, Berlin, 1892, pages 308, 311. 

•^ The compulsory sick insurance system of the German empire grants an allow- 
ance corresponding to the local daily wage of unskilled laborers (" ortsiiblicher 
Tagelohn gewohnlicher Tagesarbeiter ") . The local rate was duly ascertained 
in every town in the empire, allowance being made in money for wages paid in 
"truck." From the first official revision (1S84) the following comparative sta- 



412 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Similarly, comparisons have been made of wages in the 
various skilled trades, one with another. Here, especially, 
do city wage-earners maintain a superior rate, partly in con- 
sequence of the strength of city trade unions. 

What is the comparative cost of living in city and country? 
Does it tend to counterbalance the advantage of the city in 
higher wages? First, as to rent and personal services of all 
kinds, no doubt exists as to the disadvantages of cities. 
Villagers also secure lower prices in buying vegetables and 
such provisions as are brought to the market from the sur- 
rounding agricultural districts. But here their advantage 
over the city dwellers ends. The townsman buys his bread 
and meat and various other staple food-products fully as 
cheaply as does the villager, and far more cheaply than does 
the suburbanite. And in all other purchases, the townsman 
has an immeasurable advantage. Clothing, furniture, books 
and comforts and luxuries of every kind are offered in a var- 
iety and at prices in the cities that are not approached in the 
village store. In general, it may be said that the consumers' 
rent is much larger in the cities than in smaller dwelling-cen- 
tres. By " consumers' rent " economists mean the surplus 
of enjoyment that a man derives from purchasing an article 
at a price lower than the price he would be willing to pay in 
barter. The man with an income of $50,000 would no doubt 

tistics were compiled (Hirschberg, " Ergebnisse der fiir die Arljeiter-Kranken- 
versicherung vorgenommene Lohnstatistik in Preussen und den freien Stadten," 
yahrbiicher filr National-oekonomie und Statisiik (1S85), xhv, 265 : 

Daily wages (in marks) of adults. 
Males. Females. 

In cities of 100,000-f- 2.16 1.44 

" " " 50,000-100,000 2.06 1.27 

" " "20,000-50,000 1.77 1. 14 

" " " less than 20,000 1.44 .94 

Average i .46 .95 

Additional statistics are given in the article " Arbeitslohn, Statistik " in Con- 
rad's Hdwbh. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 41 ^ 

be willing to give 50 cents or more for a loaf of bread; but 
in the market, the price has been fixed by the marginal 
buyer and seller at eight cents, and the rich man, as well as 
the poor man, can buy bread at that price. The consumers' 
rent of the rich man would in this case be designated by forty- 
two cents. It is the fierce competition of the great stores in 
the cities that lowers prices and secures to the city-dweller a 
large consumers' rent. 

The existence of high rents in the city may more than 
counterbalance the advantages of lower prices in staple 
articles, thus making the laborer's cost of living higher, and 
his actual wages lower than in the country. In the average 
case, a workingman expends from 12 to 15 per cent, of his 
income for lodgings.^ Hence when rents run at a figure that 
averages between 25 and 33 per cent, of the normal wages 
of an unskilled laborer, as they did at one time in Munich, 
Dresden, etc., or even at more than 33 per cent., as they are 
said to have done in Frankfort, Breslau and Danzig, Stettin 
and other German cities,^ there is bound to be much misery 
and suffering. Either the expenditure for rent will encroach 
upon the other necessary expenses, or else several families 
must live together in narrow quarters.^ There is reason to 

^Engel's Law, formulated in 1857. Engel classified the expenditure of three 
groups of workmen in Saxony: (i) those with an income of ;^2oo-300; (2) in- 
termediate class, income of ^450-600; (3) well-to-do-class, $750-1,000. He 
found that each class expended 12 per cent, of its income for lodging. (Cf^ 
Marshall's Principles of Economics, p. 191.) l^he United States Bureau of 
Labor^s Report on Cost of Production, 1891, classified the expenditures in normal 
families, and found that the proportion of income expended in rent closely ap- 
proached 15 per cent, in ten out of the twelve classes. 

^ Cf Schfinberg's Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomit, 3d ed., ii, 736. 

* The direct relation of income to overcrowding is shown by an investigation of 
600 families in the New York tenement house district : 

No. of persons Weekly No. of persons 

to a family. wage. to a room. 

Families living in one room 3.3 $8.50 3.3 

" " " 2 rooms 4.6 10.90 2.3 

" " " 3 " 5.4 12.00 r.8 

" " 4 " 54 16.50 1.35 

— Report of N. V. Tenement House Com. of i8g4,\)-p.^2iZ-A- 



414 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

fear that too often both alternatives have had to be accepted. 
Add to this overcrowding, the negligence of the public 
authorities in regard to the construction of buildings and 
their sanitary condition, and you have the city slums, with 
their sickening odor of disease, vice and crime. 

Whose is the fault of the slums? and what are the reme- 
dies? are questions that do not demand extended discus- 
sion here. Society and the state are to blame for the worst 
features of the slums and in most civilized countries are now 
applying the remedies. Minute building regulations and 
careful supervision will prevent the erection of future death- 
traps ; strict inspection will prevent the use of a building, or 
part of a building, for a purpose other than the one for which 
it was built ; the requirement of a definite amount of air 
space to each occupant of a room will prevent some of the 
worst evils of overcrowding ; plenty of water, good paving, 
drainage etc., will render the sanitary condition good. The 
existing "death-traps" must be condemned and torn down. 
These measures, or most of them, have been taken in New 
York city, whose tenement house laws are probably as good 
as any. Additional legislation has been proposed, such as 
limitation on the right to migrate to a city whose housing 
accommodations are already insufifiicient, the prohibition of 
rent-taking above a legal maximum (like usury), and re- 
strictions upon the right of contract and the right to seize 
household goods in default of rent. These proposals are of 
German origin and have found little support in other coun- 
tries. 

To effect a reduction in house rents, however, is a less 
simple matter. In some places, notably in Germany, the 
overcrowding may have been due to a dislike on the part of 
the landlords to building and managing laborers' dwelHngs, 
which are subject to the annoyance of petty accounts, fre- 
quent changes of habitation and numerous losses. But 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



415 



where the workingmen are able to pay a reasonable rent, as 
they usually are in this country, the supply of laborers' 
dwellings will usually meet the demand unless there be mon- 
opoly sites.' Where the building space in the vicinity of a 
group of factories and other industries is limited, the law 
may fiot be able to prevent overcrowding without inflicting 
hardship upon the workingmen. Thus, in Glasgow after an 
era of reform in which strictly sanitary buildings had been 
constructed by the city on the site of old tenements, there 
were too few dwellings for the accommodation of those who 
wished to remain in the centre of the city, and overcrowding 
was almost an immediate result. In such a case, the only 
successful way out is an improved transit service which will 
permit more of the workingmen to reside in the suburbs. 
The London County Council has come to recognize this as 
the only really effectual remedy against overcrowding, and 
while it has secured Parliamentary Acts which will forbid the 
future erection of insanitary tenements, and has also devoted 
some attention to the condemnation and destruction of exist- 
ing " death traps," the Council's principal aim is the devel- 
opment of a rapid transit system between London and the 
suburbs. " Cheap trains for workingmen " is a rallying cry 
which has caused Parliament to abate the passenger-taxes in 
favor of railways that afford facilities for suburban, travel. 
In New York city, whose island situation prevents the popu- 
lation settling round the business centre in circular fashion, 
rapid transit is the only hope of keeping rents down. 

It is hardly worth while to set forth the statistics regarding 
overcrowding. The elaborate statistics of the Eleventh 
Census showing the average number of persons '^ to a dwell- 

' There was no known scarcity of laborers' dwellings in Chicago, and no over- 
crowding, until the arrival of poverty-stricken immigrants from Southern Europe. 

^ The average number of persons to a dwelling in the five principal American 



4i6 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



ing possess little value, as everything depends on the man- 
ner of construction of dwellings and on the relative number 
of lodgers (young unmarried men) in the town. Nor can 
the European comparison of overcrowding in various cities 
be regarded as entirely trustworthy. An instance in point 
is a recent essay on overcrowding by one of the most emi- 
nent statisticians in Europe.^ 

The English census of t 89 1 , however, affords a valuable 
comparison between urban and rural overcrowding. Re- 
garding as overcrowded all the " ordinary tenements that 
had more than two occupants to a room, bedrooms and 
sitting rooms included," the census statisticians found the 

cities in 1890, compared with the commonwealths in which they are situated, was : 

City. State. 

New York 18.52 6.70 

Chicago 8.60 5.71 

Philadelphia 5.60 5.26 

Brooklyn 9,80 6.70 

St. Louis 7.41 5.52 

The statistics of European cities may be found in the manuals of population 
statistics. 

^ J. Bertillon, Essai de statistique cotnparie du surpeuplement des habitations a 
Paris et dans les grandes villes Europeennes. Paris, 1895. '^^^ table referred to 
in the text gives the percentage of inhabitants living in overcrowded dwellings 
(«. e., those logements in which the number of persons exceeds double the number 
of rooms — pieces^ : 

Paris 14 

London 20 

Berlin 28 

Vienna 28 

Moscow 31 

St, Petersburg 46 

Budapest 74 

The Budapest statisticians said that Bertillon counted only the chambers among 
the pieces in Budapest, whereas he ought to have included kitchens and other 
rooms as he had done in the other cities. — -Cf. Eighth Inter. Cong, of Hygiene 
and Demography at Budapest, 18^4, vii, 425, where a r6sum6 of Bertillon's Essai 
is given. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



417 



following percentages of the population to be living in over- 
crowded tenements : 

Urban Rural 

Size of tenements. sanitary districts. sanitary districts. 

1 room 1. 61 0.25 

2 rooms 4.42 2.48 

3 " 346 2.83 

4 " 2.82 2.90 

Total 12.31 8.46 

But with the recent improvements in city tenements, it 
is reasonably open to doubt if they are not cleaner and 
healthier habitations than thousands of dwellings in the 
country. We hear the most about city-tenements ; on them 
is focussed all the light of public attention. But no com- 
mittees have investigated rural dwellings, nor does the met- 
ropolitan press spy them out. From personal observation, 
however, the writer believes that for every ill-kept city tene- 
ment, there is at least one rural shanty in as bad or worse 
condition. The factory having been purified by the pressure 
of public opinion and legislation, the city-tenement house is 
now yielding to similar pressure. 

That the purely economic effects of the concentration of 
population are beneficial to society as a whole clearly follows 
from the fact that the movement itself is mainly in obedience 
to economic causes. Did it not result in the production of 
greater wealth, it would soon cease. Production increases 
with increasing density, and more particularly with increasing 
concentration, because there is opportunity for greater spec- 
ialization ; every man is placed where his strength and skill 
are exerted to the best advantage. Ambition has a wider 
field, and pre-eminent talent is more frequently brought to 
light. The statesman, from his acquaintance with the tax 
revenue returns, knows that cities, especially commercial 



4i8 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



cities, are the seats of wealth.^ And the economists have 
shown that the urban wealth redounds to the advantage of 
the rural districts as well, for, as Adam Smith long ago 
pointed out, the cities afford a convenient and profitable 
market for the rude products of the country. The volumi- 
nous reports of the recent British Parliamentary commissions 
merely serve to emphasize the statement, for they show that 
the only agricultural districts in England that have been able 
to endure the long agricultural depression without showing 
signs of distress, are those around London and the industrial 
towns. City markets stimulate intensive cultivation and im- 
provements in agricultural methods; while commerce and 
manufactures introduce order and good government, and 
guarantee the liberty and security of individuals in both city 
and country.^ 

Larger production, other things being equal, is identical 
with greater individual wealth, for distribution is merely the 
process of assigning to each worker the value of his pro- 
duct. If the average individual's share is expressed by 
the quotient of total production divided by total population, 
it must naturally increase when the dividend increases faster 
than the divisor, as it does in the case of agglomerations. 

'James Lowe, author of the famous Present State of England (1821), con- 
stantly refers to the poverty of rural places and their small share of the taxes. The 
rich and powerful countries are those in which the concentration of population 
has gone farthest, e. g., the Dutch provinces. England is in proportion to popu- 
lation a richer and happier country than France; " in the size of her towns, this 
great kingdom, so long the dread of our forefathers and of Europe, has in the last 
present age been altogether surpassed by England and Scotland; for although 
our island boast only half her population, the distribution of it is made in a 
manner far more conducive to efficiency in a commercial and financial sense " 
(p. 217). 

'^ Wealth of Nations, Bk. iii, ch. 4. Smith also notes that the wealth acquired 
in cities is often employed in purchasing lands, and thus devoted to agriculture. 
But this ambition to enter the landed aristocracy was peculiar to England and 
some other European countries, and is now fading away. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



419 



But normal distribution presupposes perfect competition, 
which in turn depends a great deal on the legal norms. 
When, for instance, laborers are forbidden by law to unite in 
associations for their own protection, the competition among 
employers for their services is imperfect. Given a tacit 
agreement among them not to pay more than a certain wage, 
and the weakening of a single workingman will establish an 
abnormally low wage for the entire body of laborers. States- 
men have learned that laissez-faire is the last thing to secure 
the competition on which all economic laws are based. On 
the other hand, there are many laws which interfere with 
this perfect competition. Among these are restraints upon 
freedom of movement,' which is one of the greatest factors 
in bringing about competition and justice in distribution. 
One of the conditions of the high wages prevailing in the 
United States is, without doubt, the unhampered ability of a 
laborer to migrate wherever his best interests lead him.^ 

Now with just public laws supplementing economic law in 
the regulation of the process of distribution, the concentra- 
tion of population is particularly favorable to the working- 
men. It gives every man the chance to show "what is in 
him." Moreover, and here is the strongest point, a dense 
population is the most favorable to strong organization. 
The trade union movement, which has been a conspicuous 
force in improving the condition of English workingmen in 
the 19th century, (not so much, perhaps, from the economic 
or materialistic standpoint, as from the moral, intellectual 
and educative standpoint,) would have been impossible 
without the association of large numbers in the cities. The 
trade union is in fact the only hope of those who have seen 
materialism prevail over spiritualism ever since the disrup- 

' But there is considerable justification for such an exception to this rule as the 
United States contract labor immigration law. 
» Cf. Walker, Wa^es Question, pp. 178-88. 



420 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



tion of the familiar and friendly relations of master and em- 
ployee by corporations and the system of centralized indus- 
try. And the trade union is peculiarly a city institution. 

The movement towards the cities is therefore justified 
from the economic point of view, provided it does not go too 
far. But what is the limit? In the first place, it must be 
recognized that such a movement may continue after the 
forces that generated it have ceased to act. The reputation 
that cities enjoy for the payment of high wages may attract 
laborers after the adjustment between urban and rural rates 
of wages has been effected. The information on which men 
act may be misleading. Or men may over-estimate their 
prospects of success, just as they do when they flock to the 
gold fields. As a matter of fact, the average income in a 
mining camp is almost always small ; it is even affirmed that 
less wealth has been taken out of the Klondike than men 
took into it. But men went there on the expectation of ac- 
quiring wealth. Moreover, it is possible that a goodly por- 
tion of the migrants to cities may not act on economic mo- 
tives at all, but rush to the cities out of general discontent 
and a desire for change, rather than from any real inferiority 
in their economic rewards. The result would be superfluity 
of labor in the city and scarcity in the country. 

It is hard to say whether this condition actually exists. 
We hear a great deal at times about the masses of the un- 
employed in our cities ; but this is occasional and comes 
with commercial crises, which seem, unfortunately, to be a 
necessary part of the modern industrial system with its sep- 
aration of producer and consumer, its rapid dynamic move- 
ment and its substructure of credit. In a time of ordinary 
business prosperity there are not many capable men perma- 
nently out of work in the cities. The complaints of pauper- 
ism result from the influx of tramps and country good-for- 
nothings, who are attracted by reports of extensive city 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



421 



charities. As a matter of fact, the number of really efficient 
workers who cannot find remunerative employment in our 
great cities is small ; the testimony of those who have been 
connected with charity organization societies or with private 
employment bureaus will, it is believed, entirely substantiate 
this opinion.' 

Nevertheless there is a widespread opinion in many coun- 
tries that the movement has proceeded too far ; that so long 
as the city received only the best blood of the rural districts, 
the cream of rural youth, it was a healthful tendency. Now, 
however, it is thought that the migratory current sweeps 
along vast numbers who are not adapted to town life.'' This 
lower grade of labor (represented in American cities by the 
foreign-born) is said to imperil the standard of life of city 
laborers, undermining their forces in the battle with capital. 

But there is another side to the picture, and before govern- 
ment or society attempts to put up the bars to the migration 

' Messrs. R. Fulton Cutting and Walter L. Suydam, in reporting to the New 
York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor on the subject of 
" Agricultural Depression in New York State " (^Lea/let A'o. I ), came to the con- 
clusion that " some attempt should at least be made to check that tide of migra- 
tion to the city that threatens to make the condition of multitudes there quite in- 
tolerable It is quite true that as far as regards the difficulty of obtaining 

employment in New York City for able-bodied men, we are far better situated 
than is London or many continental cities; yet we have a vast number of the 
very poor against whom the door of material improvement is well-nigh closed. 
Unskilled labor is always travelling too near the dead-line of dependence. The 
intermission of employment and occasional enforced idleness from sickness, 
coupled with the terrible rent-charge in New York city, makes it well-nigh im- 
possible for the common laborer to save anything from his earnings " (p. 17). 
But this was written at a time of business depression (1896). 

- Fide Graham's Rural Exodus, p. 2, and passim. Kingsbury (" The Ten- 
dency of Men to Live in Cities," an address at the i S95 meeting of the American 
Social Science Association, published in the Journal of the Association) observes 
that the newspaper advertisements for boys as clerks no longer read " one from 
the country preferred" as they did fifty or sixty years ago; which may signify 
either deterioration on the part of the rural migrants or improvement in city 
youths. 



422 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



from country to city, it should consider the advantages which 
cities possess for assimilating elements that could not be 
utilized elsewhere, and of educating or taking care of the 
more helpless persons. On this point the conclusion reached 
by Dr. Devineinhis discussion of the "Shiftless and Floating 
City Population " must be accepted by every one who really 
stops to consider the matter:^ "Taking into account the 
national interest as a whole, the city is a better and less 
dangerous and less expensive place for the vagrant than the 
country. His migration to the city should be welcomed 
rather than discouraged. If he is in the city we shall be 
more conscious of his existence, but for that very reason we 
shall be better able to deal with him. There is greater tax- 
able wealth and therefore greater resources for charitable 
relief and for correctional discipline. The whole of the re- 
pressive and remedial work can be done more efficiently and 
with better opportunities to watch the results than in the 
country." 

On the other side, it is possible that a scarcity of labor 
may exist on the farm. Professor Sering affirms that in the 
agricultural fields of East Prussia, which are being depopulated 
by emigration, harvests have rotted for lack of labor.^ And 
the extensive investigations of the German Socio-political 
Association show that the wages of farm hands have risen 
to a height that makes it impossible for many farmers to em- 
ploy the labor they need.3 It is complained that there is 
also a scarcity of farm servants in England,* but such is not 
the finding of the Royal Commission on Agriculture. In an 

^ Annals of the Am. Acad. (Sept., 1897), x, 159. 

■^ Die innere Colonisation im ostlichen Deutschland (vol. Ivi of the publications 
of the Verein fur Socialpolitik) . 

^ Die Verhaltnisse der Landarbetter in Deutschland, Schriften des Vereins filr 
Socialpolitik, vols, liii-lviii. 

* Graham, Rural Exodus, p. 20. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



423 



investigation into the causes of agricultural depression in 
New York State it was found that the scarcity of good farm 
labor played a part ; ten per cent, of the replies to the ques- 
tion, " What is the cause of the tendency among farmers and 
their families to leave their farms and live in towns and cities,' 
assigned as a cause " the difificulty of obtaining good help in 
the house and on the farm."' 

Now it may well be that urban expansion has at times out- 
run the growth of the contributory territory, so that the 
cities have become swollen with a surplus population without 
employment. This condition has been sorely felt in Austra- 
lia, where vast government works have been completed and 
the laborers, temporarily thrown out of employment, have 
remained in the cities. But as to the alleged scarcity of 
labor in the agricultural districts being due to an excessive 
rush to the cities, it is sufficient to observe that the very 
provinces in Germany that make the loudest complaints have 
sent the largest number of emigrants across the ocean. 
Clearly, the migratory movement is not called into being by 
the cities alone ; there must be dissatisfaction at home to 
cause such an outpouring across the sea as well as toward 
the city. The spirit of adventure, or the pressure of subsist- 
ence, or some other impelling motive, induced this great 
movement ; not the mere attraction of the city on well-paid, 
comfortably-housed agricultural laborers. 

In the United States there has always been a relative 
scarcity of good farm labor, from the fact that most men de- 
sired to own their farms and were usually able to do so on 
account of our vast domain. To-day, the depopulation of 
the rural districts in the East is caused not less by the migra- 
tion westward than by the movement toward the cities. 

As to England, evidence was presented in the second 

1 A. I. C. P. Lea/let, cited above, p. 8. 



424 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



chapter of this essay ^ to the effect that no real depopulation 
of the rural districts had taken place. The conclusions of 
Drs. Ogle and Longstafif are confirmed in the Report of the 
Royal Commission on Labor, which states positively that 
rural emigration proceeds without reference to the local rate 
of wages, whether labor is relatively scarce and wages high 
or the opposite, =" 

It is worse than useless to attempt to stem the current of 
emigration from distressed farming districts, since migration 
is the one efficient remedy for such distress. And it should 
be thoroughly understood that a large migration from the 
country to the city is a perfectly natural phenomenon. Sir 
James Steuart has analyzed the movement in his excellent 
treatment of the distribution of population. "What occa- 
sion," he inquires, "has the country for supernumerary 
hands? If it has enough for the supply of its own wants 
and of the demands of the cities, has it not enough? Had 
it more, the supernumeraries would either consume without 
working, or if added to the class of laborers instead of being 
added to the number of free hands, would overturn the 
balance between the two classes ; grain would become too 
plentiful and that would cost a general discouragement of 
agriculture, whereas by going to the cities they acquire 
money and therewith purchase the grain they would have 
consumed had they remained in the country ; and this 
money which their additional labor in cities will force into 
circulation would otherwise have remained locked up, or at 
least would not have gone into the country but in conse- 
quence of the desertion of the supernumeraries. The 
proper and only right encouragement for agriculture is a 
moderate and gradual increase of demand for the produc- 
tions of the earth, . . . and this demand must come from 

^ Supra, p. 45. 

^ Fifth Report (W. C. Little) in Pari. Documents, 1894, xxxv, no. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 425 

cities, for the husbandmen never have occasion to demand ; 
it is they who offer for sale." ^ 

II. POLITICAL EFFECTS. 

The changes in the distribution of population which have 
been considered in the present paper have necessarily- 
effected changes in State and national politics and national 
power. 

In the first place, it will be observed that the causes of 
concentration are forces which augment national wealth. 
Compare the distribution of wealth in the United States at 
the present time and in 1787. In the Constitutional Con- 
vention it was held ^ that the distribution of wealth was so 
even throughout the country, that any system of taxation 
might safely be based on numbers. How diiferent in 1898 ! 
The rural population is not less wealthy now than it was a 
century since, but the urban population has amassed incal- 
culably greater wealth. 

Had England remained an agricultural country without 
commerce and cities, she would not now be the powerful and 
wealthy state that she is ; and in saying this, it is not for- 
gotten that national power depends not so much upon wealth 
as upon manhood. But the controversy as to the relative 
fighting capacity of the townsman and the countryman is 
after all an idle one. Man for man, it is possible that the 
agriculturists might be able to overpower the industrials, 
though even this is very doubtful, as we saw in the last chap- 
ter. But on a given area industry will support so many 
more men than agriculture will, that the former would 
easily triumph in an armed conflict. A German student has 
recently shown that the agricultural counties of England 

' Sir James D. Steuart : An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy 
being an Essay on the Science of Domestic Policy in Free Nations ; in Works, i, 
70. London, 1805. 

- I'.liot^s Debates, v, 297 ff. 



426 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

merely doubled their population in the period 1 801-91, and 
even this increase depended in part on the presence of 
wealthy consumers in the cities/ Hence had England re- 
mained an agricultural country she would now have a popu- 
lation of about 16 million, instead of 28 million. The terri- 
tory of England could not afford support to 28 million peo- 
ple producing their own food supply. The policy of Ger- 
man statesmen who would keep Germany an agricultural 
country for the sake of her army is therefore seen to be 
mistaken. 

Of even more fundamental importance than national power 
is national stability. Anything affecting the constitution of 
the electorate must be of great interest; anything that di- 
minishes the elector's love of country or interest in its pres- 
ervation must excite distrust. Now land ownership has in 
the past been recognized as the most important conservative 
force in politics, and the statesman's ideal — even in England, 
the land of great landlords — has been a country of small 
landowners like France. But with increasing concentration 
of population goes an increase of tenancy, both as regards 
land and dwelling houses. The American statistics concern- 
ing the private ownership of dwelling houses show the fol- 
lowing proportions of tenants in 1890:* 

Per cent. 

Farms 34.o8 

Rural population 56.22 

Cities of 8,000-100,000 64.04 

" " 100,0004- 77-^7 

United States 52.20 

^ J. Golcistein, Berufsgliederung urid Reichtum (Stuttgart, 1897), P- ^^' '^ ^" 
interesting monograph on the subject. It contains a full bibliography. On the 
opposite side of the question, see von Bindewald, " Eine Untersuchung iiber den 
Unterschied der Militartauglichkeit landlicher und stadtischer Bevolkerung," 
in Jahrb. fiir N.- O. und Statistik, Ixx, 649 seq. 

^ Abstract of the uth Cens., 223. Holmes, " Tenancy in the United States," 
Quar. your, of Econ., x, 37, 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



427 



Several cities exceed the average of 77.17 percent, for the 
great cities ; thus New York's percentage was 93.67 (Greater 
New York about 85), Brooklyn, 81.44; Jersey City, 81.20; 
Boston, 81.57, ^tc- Rochester (56.02) and Milwaukee 
(57.87) make the most favorable showing. It may be worth 
while to note that the percentage of tenancy in Berlin 
(96.65) exceeds that of any American city. 

Thus statistics show that the ownership of the home be- 
comes less common in the degree that we leave the farm and 
village and proceed up (or down) the scale to the great cities. 
We do not wish to minimize the importance of this fact from 
the political point of view, and yet we must remember that 
there are other forms of property than real estate. If a man 
who rents his home has a good bank account, he is not likely 
to vote for the overthrow of government.^ 

The extensive distribution of government bonds among 
French citizens is felt to be an influence favorable to conser- 
vatism scarcely inferior to the ownership of the soil of France 
by millions of peasant proprietors. And the American 
election of 1896 proved that the land-owner is not necessarily 
a conservative, nor the city man necessarily a radical. For 
whatever our opinion as to the merits of the controversy, it 
must be conceded that the cause supported by the farmers 
involved radical changes, while the city populations voted to 
conserve the status quo. 

Nevertheless, the danger of class antagonism is particu- 
larly grave in the cities. Dives and Lazarus become figures 
too familiar to let us rest in peace. The chasm created by 
the industrial system yawns widest in the cities ; and the 
means of bridging it will require careful consideration. 

In internal politics the changes causing or accompanying 

^ And it may be observed that England's government has been more stable 
than any continental government, notwithstanding the concentration of its landed 
property in a few hands. 



428 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the concentration of population have brought many new 
problems to the front, of which the question of taxation is a 
good specimen. As previously noted, wealth followed pop- 
ulation so evenly in the United States of 1790 that even a 
per capita tax would have been equitable, while the general 
property tax generally adopted gave perfect satisfaction. 
But the general property tax has utterly broken down in the 
last few years on account of the growth of other forms of 
wealth than immovable property.^ And so it is generally ; 
the complexity of modern city civilization demands new laws 
and new policies. And the most conspicuous problem is the 
difficulty of governing the cities themselves. . 

Aristotle saw the difficulty of governing a vast agglomera- 
tion of people, and limited the population of his ideal city- 
state to 10,000.^ There is, indeed, a vast difference between 
the government of a city and that of a village. A dense 
population engenders problems that are never thought of in 
a village. Run the eye over a directory of the public offi- 
cials of a great city and observe how few of them are known 
to village governments. Building departments, paving, fire, 
health, park, public improvement, library, public building 
boards ; city auditor, corporation counsel, city architect, 
surveyor, superintendent of markets, sewers, bridges, print- 
ing; inspectors of milk, provisions, lime, petroleum; a 
sealer of weights and measures, etc., etc. It would take 
pages merely to enumerate the officials of New York city, 
the majority of whom perform functions to which no parallel 
is found in the village. 

The complexity of a city government, the multifariousness 
of its duties, make it the most difficult kind of government 
to watch. Even the national government does not under- 
take to regulate so many details, and the general supervision 

' Seligman, Essays in Taxation, chs. i and ii. 
^ De Republica, 1. 7. 



GEN{ERAL E'FFECTS OF CONCENTRA TION ^-jq 

A 

to which it is\ mainly limited can be more easily watched. 
The city is in riaany respects a great business corporation ; it 
calls for a careful, systematic, business-like administration. 
Now, administration is a branch of politics in which Ameri- 
cans have hitherto shown more awkwardness than is pleasant 
to think of. Cc uption if not inefficiency has been the 
characteristic mj.^_. of public administration, especially in 
the cities. And the reason why Americans have submitted 
to such service, has been its small sphere, as compared with 
the sphere of local {i. e. rural) government, which has been 
the strength of our democratic institutions. As Mr. Bryce 
has said : " Americans constantly reply to the criticisms 
which Europeans pass on the faults of their State legisla- 
tures and the shortcomings of Congress by pointing to the 
healthful efificiency of their rural administration, which 
enables them to bear with composure the defects of the 
higher organs of government." ' Now it is obvious that 
with the rapid moveTient of population from the rural dis- 
tricts to the cities, the sphere of local rural government 
(typified in the towntmeeting, the glory of New England and 
New England's sons in every part of the Union) has been 
continually narrowed. With only 25 or 35 per cent, of our 
people residing in *:he rural districts (Massachusetts), the 
"healthy efficiency of rural administration" signifies but 
little. 

The difficulties of city government (" the one conspicuous 
failure in American politics ") are enhanced by the large 
floating population which is a necessary accompaniment of 
a great migratory movement toward the cities. The thou- 
sands of new residents are strangers to the city's history 
and traditions, h?.ve no local attachments, and do not readily 
acquire any civc pride. The vast majority are non-tax- 
payers, and fee) little concern in the city's government. 

^\imerican Commonwealth, 2d ed,, 1,591. 



4^0 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

The ignorance of local history and geogn\phy is in fact 
almost appalling, and our munic^alities have but just begun 
to provide instruction on these subjects, which may in time 
awaken civic pride.^ 

On top of these obstacles to good government comes the 
problem of assimilating the foreign natio lities. When the 
foreign immigrants settle in isolated " qu^^**:;rs," which is the 
natural tendency, much effort is required to raise them to 
the city's standard. This is perhaps thr one danger of the 
" movement toward the cities " so far as the United States 
is concerned : the influx of a shiftless ar d degraded popula- 
tion from foreign lands, which cannot b-: readily distributed 
throughout the country. 

Inasmuch as this is not a treatise on municipal govern- 
ment, no discussion of proposed reforms is in place. But 
one thing is to be strenuously insisted upon, and that is the 
right of the cities to self-government. The strength of our 
political institutions has always been in local government, and 
the only hope for our cities is freedom to work out for 
themselves a plan of government which shall take the. place 
of that rural local administration that has been our boast in 
times past. "The problem of modern jtimes is how to make 
life possible in large cities devoted to industrial activities, 
and this is a problem which cannot be dealt with except by 
the cities themselves." The only hope for the cities is to 
educate the mass of the propertyless, and this will never be 
accomplished until the liberal and genero^is minds of the city 
have the assurance that their work is not liable to be undone 
at any moment by the State legislature. 

' New York and other large cities have popular lecture .ourses in which these 
themes are sometimes handled. Many of the cities also have societies of large 
membership devoted to the investigation of local history aid propagation of re- 
sults. The city of Brookline, Mass., has recently prepared a text-book for its 
school children, which is a local geography, a botany, a gk>logy, a history, and a 
treatise on civil government as related to that town. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



431 



Amidst the discouragements incited by a contemplation of 
the failure of our city governments to achieve anything like 
the success of American rural local government, we may 
derive some small consolation from the fact that things are 
not now so bad as they used to be. Let us read De 
Tocqueville's description of our cities in the thirties, and take 
fresh courage to renew the struggle for municipal reform. 
Says the illustrious author of Democracy in America 
(Reeve's trans. 2d Am. ed., p. 270) : 

"The United Stales have no metropolis; but they already contain several very 
large cities. Philadelphia reckoned 161,000 inhabitants, and New York 202,000 
in 1830. The lower orders which inhabit these cities constitute a rabble even 
more formidable than the populace of European towns. They consist of freed 
Blacks in the first place, who are condemned by the laws and by public opinion 
to an hereditary state of misery and degradation. They also contain a multitude 
of Europeans who have been driven to the shores of the New World by their mis- 
fortunes or their misconduct, and these men inoculate the United States with all 
their vices, without bringing with them any of those interests which counteract 
their baneful influence. As inhabitants of a country where they have no civil 
rights, they are ready to turn all the passions which agitate the community to 
their own advantage; thus, within the last few months serious riots have broken 
out in Philadelphia and New York. Disturbances of this kind are unknown in 
the rest of the country, which is nowise alarmed by them because the population 
of the cities has hitherto exercised neither power nor influence over the rural 
districts. 

" Nevertheless, I look upon the size of certain American cities, and especially 
on the nature of their population, as a real danger which threatens the future 
security of the democratic republic of the New World; and I venture to predict 
that they will perish from this circumstance, unless the Government succeeds in 
creating an armed force, which, whilst it remains under the control of the major- 
ity of the nation, will be independent of the town population and able to repress 
its excesses." 

III. SOCIAL EFFECTS 

Having considered the economic and political effects of 
the concentration of population, we may now conclude with 
an estimation of the social effects upon urban and rural com- 
munities, and a general summary from the point of view of 
society as a whole. 



432 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



As to the cities themselves, we have just noted how good 
government and even social solidarity are threatened by- 
class antagonisms. The actual cause of such social antipa- 
thies will be found in an exaggerated individualism, which 
has been developed by an era of industrialism, out of 
mediaeval militarism. The new industrial forces which 
transformed the solidified Age of Authority into a liquefied 
Age of Freedom, have naturally been more predominant in 
the cities than elsewhere, for the close contact of man with 
man in a dense population removes prejudices and engenders 
liberalism. The cities have always been the cradles of lib- 
erty, just as they are to-day the centres of radicalism. 
Every man of the world knows that isolation and solitude 
are found in a much higher degree in the crowded city than 
in a country village, where one individual's concerns are the 
concern of all. The cities, then, are favorable to free 
thought and the sense of individual responsibility.^ 

But it is a question whether the loosening of the ties of 
individual responsibility has not gone too far. " The great 
danger to morality and good government," says Roscher, "is 
that the individual is lost in the multitude of atoms, — a con- 
dition that may abolish the sense of duty and make the great 
city as insecure as the opposite extreme, the wilderness."'' 
Now this extreme individualism of the cities is merely one 
manifestation of the — shall we say excessive — fluidity of 
modern society, and its cause is chiefly industrial. Cities 
vary in their lack of social feeling {i. <?., individualism), and 
those cities have the least portion of it which are most given 

' An exception is here made in favor of the strength of social opinion in the 
matter of Fashion. Manufacturers testify that their only market for goods that 
have gone out of fashion is in the agricultural districts. This exception will be 
discussed as a part of the subject of Materialism. 

'■* Roscher's System, vol, lii, Nationaloekoiiomik des Handels and Gewerbefteisses 
§ 6, sth ed., p. 37. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



433 



to industrial enterprises in which the competitive system has 
obtained full sway. 

It may be said, indeed, that it is our industrial system, and 
not city life, which engenders the essentially egoistic, self- 
seeking and materialistic attitude ; but so long as the cities 
remain the results of the competitive industrial regime, they 
must share the blame. No one can view with equanimity 
the continual drift of population to the cities where it will 
be subject to such demoralizing influences. 

*' The modern town is a result of the desire to produce and 
distribute most economically the largest aggregate of mate- 
rial goods : economy of work, not convenience of life, is the 
object. Now, the economy of factory co-operation is only 
social to a very limited extent; anti-social feelings are 
touched and stimulated at every point by the competition of 
workers with one another, the antagonism between employers 
and employed, between sellers and buyers, factory and fac- 
tory, shop and shop.' Where the density of population is 
determined by industrial competition rather than by human- 
social causes, it would seem that the force of sound public 
opinion is in inverse proportion to the density of population, 
being weakest in the most crowded cities. In spite of the 
machinery of political, religious, social and trade organiza- 
tions in large towns, it is probable that the true spiritual 
cohesiveness between individual members is feebler than in 
any other form of society. If it is true that as the larger 
village grows into the town, and the town into the ever 
larger city, there is a progressive weakening of the bonds of 
moral cohesion between individuals, that the larger the town 
the feebler the spiritual unity, we are face to face with the 
heaviest indictment that can be brought against modern in- 
dustrial progress, and the forces driving an increased propor- 
tion of our population into towns are bringing about a 

^ Hobson, Evolution of Capitalism, 340. 



434 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



decadence of morale, which is the necessary counterpart of 
the deterioration of national physique."' 

This separation of classes which has so nearly destroyed 
social solidarity in all large cities, is especially dangerous in 
the United States (where, under democratic forms, solidarity 
is especially indispensable) on account of differences in race 
and religion, as well as social rank and condition. In Amer- 
ican cities the " upper " social ranks — the commercial and 
professional classes — are predominantly American and Prot- 
estant; the " lower" ranks — the hewers of wood and drawers 
of water — are on the contrary chiefly of foreign origin and 
of the Roman Catholic faith. The danger of class antag- 
onism is therefore peculiarly great in our cities. 

What can be done to wipe out class feelings and unify 
the community? A brief survey of what has already been 
done will encourage those who have most clearly perceived 
the dangers of the competitive system and the concentration 
of population in modern cities, which have been called the 
" most impersonal combinations of individuals that have 
ever been formed in the world's history." 

Social observers have for some time been aware that 
society is emerging from the period of Industrialism, into a 
period of Humanitarianism.^ Criticism of Industrialism began 
as soon as it was discovered that its fundamental idea (In- 
dividualism) was not identical with personal welfare. Scep- 
ticism, laissez-faire, the insistence upon rights as opposed to 
mediaeval restrictions and obligations, succeeded in freeing 
the individual from the authority of superiors, but turned 
him over to the tender mercy of things that society had 
created and not learned to control. Matter was exalted 
over mind, and the twin-companion of Individualism was 

' Hobson, Evolution of Capitalism, 342. 

* Cf. the exceedingly interesting and instructive work of J. S. Mackenzie, Intro- 
duction to Social Philosophy, ch. ii, and passim. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 435 

Materialism. The guild-laws had scarcely been abolished 
in England before factory legislation began — the opening of 
a new period of Reconstruction. Carlyle and Ruskin were 
the prophets of the new order; Owen, Kingsley, Maurice, 
its active servants. In recent years every enlightened 
country has enacted laws along the line of personal welfare. 
Some call such legislation Socialism ; it is in the spirit of 
co-operation — Humanitarianism. 

Now, it is perfectly natural that the most noticeable 
traces of the humanitarian movement should be found in 
the cities, where the greatest abuses of industrialism and 
materialism existed. Men cannot live long in close contact 
without acquiring a painful sense of the separateness of in- 
dividual interests, of the absurdity of identifying the indi- 
vidual's interest with the interest of society and the conse- 
quent policy of laissez-faire. I may enjoy playing a cornet 
during the cool summer evenings ; but that is not to the 
interest of my neighbor who has to go to work early in the 
morning and so needs early sleep. It may be greatly to my 
interest to build a tannery on a vacant city lot that comes 
to me cheap ; but it is not the interest of people who have 
fine residences on adjoining property. It may be to my 
interest to employ poverty-stricken families, living amidst 
filth and contagious diseases, to make cheap shirts and 
clothing ; but it is not to the interest of my fellow-citizens. 
In short, there arise a thousand and one conflicts between 
individual interests and social interests, and in their adjust- 
ment selfishness is curbed and a social feeling excited. 
This explains why Socialism has so far been largely 
Municipal Socialism. It is easier, and at the same time 
more necessary, for the people in a city to co-operate. ' 

Political co-operation, however, will not operate to 

' This idea is further developed by Dr. Maltbie in Municipal Socialism 
{Municipal Affairs, Dec, 1898). 



436 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

remedy all the evils of an extreme individualism.' Accord- 
ingly, we see a multitude of philanthropic associations and 
enterprises in every great city. The guide-book to reform 
clubs in New York city is a volume of no mean dimensions. 
All these associations unite to foster civic pride and a spirit 
of mutual helpfulness. And still something is lacking to 
overcome the indifference of the *' West Side " to the " East 
Side" and the lack of neighborly feelings expressed in the 
North Country proverb : " Friends are far when neighbors 
are near." The poor become hopeless, " the submerged 
tenth," from want of stimulus and help, and the rich be- 
come " charityless " from want of the insight that personal 
contact gives.^ To bring together rich and poor is the ofifice 
of university and other social settlements — Toynbee Hall in 
London, Hull House in Chicago, and many others. This is 
perhaps the most promising of all social movements.'' It 

^ Prof. Patten, however, believes the contrary. As an instance, he says that 
just as national feelings grow when the wealthy classes can no longer hire substi- 
tutes for the army, so civic pride will grow when they cannot have private filters 
for city water, etc. — Theory of Social Forces, Annals of Am-. Acad, of Pol. 6^ Soc 
Sc, Sup., Jan., 1896, p. 149. 

^ " The isolation of classes is an evil for all; and as those of us who have means 
and leisure go to the mountains or to the seaside for the health of our bodies and 
the relaxation of our minds, so may we ultimately find it necessary to betake our- 
selves to the centres of our overcrowded populations for the health of our souls. 
Many at least begin to feel this as a duty." — Mackenzie, In/rod. to Soc. Phil., 
p. 320. 

' Prof. Patten apparently sympathizes little with such reformatory efforts. Take 
the case of a drunkard. " Morality tries to reform and only checks social differentia- 
tion; the aesthetic feeling pushes him and the saloon out into the back alleys, 
and thus promotes differentiation by freeing home life and public places from the 
worst evils, and allowing the growth of refined social feelings. The integrating 
tendencies can then produce higher types of men and give them vantage ground 
for the displacement of the lower types." ( Theory of Social Forces, p. 151.) As 
regards institutions, we all agree with Prof. Patten, but we can hope for nothing 
from such treatment of men. If the drunkards and criminals could actually be 
displaced in this manner, it might be otherwise (but the inhumanity ofit!). But, 
as it is, these classes are the very ones who will propagate their kind and con- 
taminate the whole neighborhood if left to themselves. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 437 

signifies charity in the highest sense — not the selfish open- 
ing of the pocket to free oneself from the annoyance of a 
beggar or to buy entrance into Paradise. 

We may conclude, then, that the cities have a great many 
difficult problems to solve; that they have begun to face 
these problems and have already applied certain remedies ; 
that much effort is still needed to make city life what it 
should be, and that the principal basis of hope lies in the 
decentralizing forces that have recently appeared/ 

Concerning the effects of the movement toward the cities 
upon the rural population, we have already said something 
from the economic point of view. Socially regarded, it is a 
misfortune for the villages that their most enterprising and 
choice youth should be drawn away. This must certainly 
lower the tone of town and village life and even produce a 
local stagnation. The recruits that the villages receive from 
the farms partially replace their losses to the city, but on the 
whole the villages give more than they receive. Hence they 
do not so readily keep up with the march of progress, being 
less quick to adopt improvements from the city. The pro- 
cess of equalization proceeds less rapidly. The evil effects 
upon the villages of the emigration of their fresh blood is 
noticeable in their schools. The superintendent of public 
instruction of New York afifirms that the cities have sucked 
the life out of the country schools,^' and the governor of 
Pennsylvania in his annual message (1897) recommends the 
provision of better schools (high schools) in the districts in 
order to keep the youth from going to the towns and cities 
for their education. 

The fact is that a radical change in educational methods 

^ Infra, ch, ix. That the conditions of life in our great cities can be improved 
and must be improved is strongly urged by Dr. Shaw, Municipal Government in 
Great Britain, 9. Cf, also Gladden. Social Facts and Forces, 161. 

'Report, 1896. 



438 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



has been silently effected by the industrial forces of which 
this essay treats. Under the regime of domestic industry, 
children were educated by co-operating with their parents on 
the farm, where the pursuit of both agriculture and the use- 
ful arts furnished industrial training, and constant association 
with adults (especially with the children's parents) provided 
mental and moral training. In the handicraft regime, boys 
learned trades as apprentices. Under the modern regime 
(factory system), country boys have no opportunity to learn 
trades on the farm or in a village shop. Mental and manual 
training have been dififerentiated ; the latter cannot be 
acquired outside the cities, and the former until lately has 
suffered in village communities from lack of facilities. But 
the fact has already been noted that a comprehensive report 
on the subject of rural schools was presented in 1897 to the 
National Educational Association, and now that the faults 
have been pointed out, intelligent efforts for reform may be 
made. Unification of school districts, better teachers, more 
instruction in nature study and practical agriculture, are 
needed. About 11,000,000 out of a total 14,000,000 school 
children are in the schools of towns of less than 8,000 in- 
habitants, and the nation or State cannot afford to overlook 
their interests. 

The "religious destitution of villages" is a recognized 
problem, strange as it may seem to those who have observed 
the evils of city life alone. To many people the Fast Day 
proclamation of the governor of New Hampshire issued April 
6, 1899, came as a revelation by reason of its explicit refer- 
ence to the decline of the Christian religion in rural com- 
munities, which he afiEirmed is a marked feature of the times. 
The governor's official recognition of the decay of religion 
in villages may invite attention to the considerable body of 
literature on the subject.' 

^ Vide the pertinent chapter in Crocker's Problems in American Society, 
together with the references therein. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 439 

Henry George puts the case against city growth in its worst 
light when he says' that "just as the wen or tumor, drawing 
the wholesome juice of the body into its vortex, impoverishes 
all other parts of the frame, so does the crowding of human 
beings in the city impoverish human life in the country. 
The unnatural life of the great cities means an equally unnat- 
ural life in the country."' 

What, if any, are the benefits secured to the entire social 
body in compensation for these evil effects of concentration 
of population upon the life of the non-urban population? 
And is there no advantage to the villages themselves? 

Economically, as we have learned, the concentration of 
large masses of people upon small areas at once multiplies 
human wants and furnishes the means of their satisfaction ; 
and the benefits are communicated to the surrounding 
country, which finds in the cities a market for its production 
and a stimulus to the diversification of the same. 

Socially, the influence of the cities is similarly exerted in 
favor of liberal and progressive thought. The variety of 
occupation, interests and opinions in the city produces an 
intellectual friction, which leads to a broader and freer judg- 
ment and a great inclination to and appreciation of new 
thoughts, manners, and ideals. City life may not have pro- 
duced genius, but it has brought thinkers into touch with 
one another, and has stimulated the divine impulse to 
originate by sympathy or antagonism. "" As the seat of 
political power, as the nursery of the arts and sciences, as 
the centre of industry and commerce, the city represents the 
highest achievements of political, intellectual and industrial 
life.3 The rural population is not merely conservative ; it is 

^ Social Problems, 317. 

^ Pearson, National Life and Character, p. 150. 

^ Rumelin, Reden und Aufsdtze, i, 352. 



440 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



full of error and prejudice ; it receives what enlightenment 
it possesses from the city. Nor is the small city free from 
the same reproach ; while it performs the useful function of 
an intermediary between the progressiveness, liberalism, 
radicalism of the great city, and the conservatism, bigotry, 
of the country, it is the chief seat of the pseudo-bourgeois 
Philistine. Kleinstddtisch is in German almost as much a re- 
proach as the paganns or rustictis of the Latin. The contrast 
between city and rural populations and civilizations is as 
clearly marked in the United States as in any other modern 
country; the North represents one, the South the other. 
While not denying the many admirable traits of Southern 
character, we cannot overlook the prevalence of prejudice 
and provincialism which has cut off the South from partici- 
pation in the lofty patriotism and national feeling existent in 
other parts of the United States. Americans of the present 
generation are destined to see this provincialism vanish be- 
fore the powerful influences of large cities, which the intro- 
duction of manufactures and commerce on a large scale will 
in a short time produce. The South will be brought into 
contact with the current of world-thought. To the negro 
race justice will at length be accorded, and a stronger feel- 
ing of fraternity toward the North will grow up, strengthen- 
ing the bonds of patriotism. 

It is emphatically true that the growth of cities not only 
increases a nation's economic power and energy, but quick- 
ens the national pulse. In the present age, the influence of 
the cities is not perhaps so strong in the direction of the 
noblest thought and culture, because the present age is 
essentially materialistic. But there is some reason for believ- 
ing that Materialism is gradually giving way before Humani- 
tarianism, and we may hope in time to see the great cities 
exercise as noble a domination in the world of thought as 
was maintained by the Athens of Pericles and Aeschylus, by 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



441 



the Rome of Lucretius and Juvenal, by the Florence of 
Michel Angelo, by the London of Elizabeth, and by the 
Paris of the second half of the seventeenth century.^ 

It is at least ground for encouragement that the leading 
nations of the modern world are those which have the 
largest city populations. That cities are both cause and 
consequence of a high Cultur can hardly be doubted. 

But the highest social service performed by the cities will 
not be realized until we have made clear to ourselves their 
function in the process of natural selection. Otto Ammon's 
comparison of this process of natural selection in human so- 
ciety with that of horse-breeding is not flattering to a human 
being's sense of dignity ; but he expresses the facts when he 
likens cities to folds {Pferche) into which the most desirable 
bloods are brought and nourished on a superior diet. Inside 
the fold are divisions to secure the concentration of the 
breeder's attention upon the very few superior animals. 
These divisions in the cities are the social classes {Stdnde) : 
the laborers, small undertakers, etc., in the lower classes ; 
business men, large undertakers and subordinate pubhc 
officials in the middle class ; the professional men and 
higher officials in the upper class.^" Ammon, and others 
of his school, have gone so far as to claim that the process 
of natural selection involved in migration cityward produces 
a distinct race — the dolicocephalic or long heads, as distin- 
guished from the brachycephalic or round heads, who re- 
main in the rural districts.^ But such facts, when once es- 

^ Pearson, op. cit., 152. 

* Die Naturliche Auslese, sec. 404. 

* Ammon and Lapouge are the leadmg representatives of this theory, which 
may be found in the former's Die NatUrliche Auslese beim Menschen (p. 183 ff), 
Gesellschafisordnung, etc., and in English in the latter's article entitled " The 
Fundamental Laws of Anthropo-Sociology," in the your, of Pol. Econ., vi, 54-92. 
The theory is also set forth by Closson in the articles "Dissociation by Displace- 



442 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

tablished, will have an interest only for the anthropologist, 
since any real connection between cranial development and 
mental capacity still remains to be recognized. While the 
Anglo-Saxons and North Germans are dolicocephalic, so are 
the negroes, Hottentots, native Australians and other inferior 
races,^ 

The city is the spectroscope of society ; it analyzes and sifts 
the population, separating and classifying the diverse ele- 
ments. The entire progress of civilization is a process of 
differentiation, and the city is the greatest differentiator. 
The mediocrity of the country is transformed by the city 
into the highest talent or the lowest criminal. Genius is 
often born in the country, but it is brought to Hght and 
developed by the city. On the other hand, the oppor- 
tunities of the city work just as powerfully in the opposite 
direction upon the countrymen of an ignoble cast-, the boy 
thief of the village becomes the daring bank robber of the 
metropolis. 

Taking this view of the cities as the central instruments of 
the process of differentiation, we shall be able to reconcile 
the differences of those who regard the cities as " ulcers on 
the bod ' politic " (Jefferson) and those who place them at 

ment," Quar. Jour, of Econ.,x, 156, and "The Hierarchy of Races," /^»»<rr. 
your, of Sociology, iii. Lapouge attempts to show that the Homo Europaus or 
doHcocephalic type, as contrasted with the Homo Alpinus (brachycephalic) is the 
more active and dominant race. This view is critically examined by Ripley, 
"Racial Geography of Europe," Pop. Science Monthly, 52:479. Dr. Ripley 
promises a complete bibliography on Anthropology (to be issued by the Boston 
Public Library), Short bibliographies may be found in Lapouge's article above 
cited, in Pol. Sc. Quar., x, 647, and in Bulletin of the Inter. Institute of Statistics, 
viii, 266. 

' The cephalic index here referred to is the ratio of the breadth of head to its 
length. When the index is less than 80, the skull is said to be dolicocephalic 
(long-head) ; when more than 80, brachycephalic. The cephalic index of the 
three inferior races mentioned is between 71 and 75, of Celts and Anglo-Saxons, 
76-78, of the South Germans, 83-84. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



443 



the apex of civilization.^ The fact that the cities make the 
opinions, fashions and ideals of mankind, rests upon the vast- 
ness of opportunity that they afford. But it is clear that 
opportunity to do good and become great involves oppor- 
tunity to accomplish evil, that is, temptation. Compare the 
devices against burglary in an advanced country with those 
in a more backward country ; the Yale lock of America with 
the ponderous keys and old-fashioned locks, that almost any 
one can pick with a button-hook, in Germany. Compare 
the wonderfully complicated equipment against burglars in 
a metropolitan bank with the ordinary safes and vaults of a 
country bank. A progressive or dynamic civilization implies 
the good and bad alike. The cities, as the foci of progress, 
inevitably contain both good and bad. 

Insanity and suicide, both essentially characteristic of in- 
dustrialism, are naturally more prevalent in the centres of 
industry and business, where the real stress and competition 
in life are found. The downward stream of failures explains 
the excess of insanity, suicide and crime in the city, the re- 
sult of a process thrust upon the cities by society and per- 
formed for the benefit of society. It is the penalty paid for 
progress." 

^"The life that men live in the cities, gives the type and measure of their 
civilization. The word ' civilization ' means the manner of life of the civilized 
part of the community; that is, of the city men,- not of the countrymen, vkho are 
called rustics, and were once called pagans {pagani), or the heathen of the 
villages." — Frederic Harrison. 

^ Prof. Ripley has brought out the contrasts between urban and rural communi- 
ties in somewhat exaggerated form : " In every population we may distinguish 
two modes of increase or evolution, which vary according to economic oppor- 
tunity for advancement. One community grows from its own loins; children 
bom in it remain there, grow up to maturity, and transmit their mental and 
physical peculiarities unaltered to the next generation. Such a group of popula- 
tion develops from within, mentally as well as physically, by inheritance. Such 
is the type of the average rural community. It is conservative in all respects, 
holding to the past with unalterable tenacity. Compare with that a community 
which grows almost entirely by immigration. Stress of competition is severe. 



444 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



It is the fallacy of averages that obscures much of the best 
in city life. Thus, in the matter of death rates, the cities 
appear to poor advantage when compared with rural com- 
munities. But in almost every large city one or more wards 
may be found in which not only the crude death-rate, but 
also the refined rate and the still more expressive rate of in- 
fant mortality, are lower than in the rural districts.' 

The only doubt of the efficiency of the city's process of 
natural selection is thus removed, because these healthful 
wards, it is hardly necessary to say, are the better residential 
quarters. It is not, therefore, the unfit that survive, which 
is the complaint of Dr. Ogle, who declares that "the com- 
bined effect of the constantly higher mortality in the town 
and of the constant immigration into it of the pick of the 
rural population must clearly be a gradual deterioration of 
the whole, inasmuch as the more energetic and vigorous 
members of the community are consumed more rapidly than 
the rest of the population. The system is one which leads 
to the survival of the unfittest." '^ Even if the " fittest" mem- 
There is no time for rearing children ; nor is it deemed desirable, for every child 
is a handicap for further social advancement. Marriage, even, unless it be de- 
ferred until late in life, is an expensive luxury Such is the type known as 

the modern great city," which is the type of progress. {^Pop, Sc. MontJily, 52 : 480.) 
1 This is true of at least half of the 28 large cities of the United States (Cf . 
Vital Statistics of Cities of ioo,ooo-\- at the nth Census). A few examples 
follow : 

Deaths per 1,000. 
AH ages. Under 5 years. 

Rural part of registration States I5.66 40.65 

Cities in registration States 23.48 93-43 

Allegheny, Pa. (Ward 5) 14-72 44.82 

Cincinnati " 26 10.27 40-34 

Cleveland " 6 9.44 31-25 

Detroit " 4 15-ci 37-^7 

Pittsburg " 31 15.55 34-58 

St. Louis " 27 13-88 39-42 

"^Jour. of St. Soc, 52 : 208. This was virtually the complaint of Siissmilch over 
a hundred years ago. Cf. Die gottliche Ordnung, vol. i, ch. iii, sec. 52 (p. 162 of 
2d ed., 1761). 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION 



445 



bers of society did perish earlier in the struggle for existence 
in the city than in the conntry, it would be open to doubt if 
society would not gain more by their residence in the city 
where they can find scope for their abilities than in the 
country without opportunities for performing the highest 
social service of which they are capable. But with the 
modern combination of city business life and rural residence, 
or at least open-air holidays and recreation periods, and the 
opportunities that cities alone offer for the carrying on of 
athletic sports and games, the best blood of the race is not 
liable to extinction. Even Professor Marshall, who is inclined 
to over-rate the dangers of city life, reaches an optimistic 
conclusion in his final review of modern tendencies : ^ 

" The progress of knowledge and in particiUar of medical science, the ever- 
growing activity and wisdom of Government in all matters relating to health, and 
the increase of material wealth, all tend to lessen mortality and to increase health 
and strength and to lengthen life. On the other hand, vitality is lowered and the 
death-rate raised by the rapid increase of town-life, and by the tendency of the 
higher strain of population to marry later and to have fewer children than the 
lower. If the former set of causes were alone in action, but so regulated as to 
avoid the danger of over-population, it is probable that man would quickly rise to 
a physical and mental excellence superior to any that the world has yet known; 
while if the latter set acted unchecked he would speedily degenerate. 

" As it is, the two sets hold one another very nearly in balance, the former 
slightly preponderating. While the population of England is growing nearly as 
fast as ever, those who are out of health in body and mind are certainly not an 
increasing part of the whole; and the rest are much better fed and clothed, and,, 
with a few exceptions, are stronger than they were." 

"^Principles of Economics, p. 285. 



CHAPTER IX 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



One of the conclusions derived from the statistics of urban 
growth presented in the second chapter of this essay is that 
the process of concentration of population is centralizing in 
its tendencies ; that is, the large cities are growing more 
rapidly than the small cities and absorbing the great bulk of 
the urban increase. Levasseur's hypothesis that " the power 
of attraction of human groups is, in general, proportionate to 
their mass"' was nearly everywhere sustained. The only 
important exceptions were the United States, England and 
Austria; but it was shown that the large cities in Austria 
were leading all the others so soon as their boundaries were 
extended to take in the city populations in the suburbs. In 
England, where it is also true that the middle-sized cities 
have been growing more rapidly than London and other 
large cities, a similar explanation can be made. The mid- 
dle-sized cities which are leaving the other cities behind are 
suburbs of the metropolis and other large cities. In the 
decade 1 881-91 there were six cities in England which 
showed an increase of more than 50 per cent., and the first 
four of these were suburbs of London." At the present time 
the great cities spread out over such an enormous territory 
that their growth can best be viewed in the light of county 

^LaPop.fran.,\\,Zlc^. 

^ Ley ton, 133.3 per cent, increase; Willesden, 121.9; Tottenham, 95.1; West 
Ham, 58.9; Ystradyfodwg, 58.8; Cardiff, 55.8. {Census of England and Wales, 
iv, 1 2, 1 3.) The latter two are Welsh mining towns. 

(446) 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



447 



statistics. Now, in the last decade, 20 of the 55 English 
(registration) counties increased in population by more 
than ten per cent.'' The leading four counties with their 
percentages of increase were : 

Middlesex 5<^-93 

Essex 37-S2 

Glamorganshire 33-70 

Surrey 24.09 

Now Middlesex, Essex and Surrey are adjacent to London 
and contain the London suburbs; all three had a larger in- 
crease than the middle-sized cities (22.9 per cent.), which 
led London and the great towns proper. Kent (13.7) and 
Sussex (12.2), are also close to London and are within the 
first fourteen counties of most rapid growth in 1 881-91. 
Inasmuch as the counties preserved approximately the same 
rank in 188 1-9 1 as in 1 871-81, it may be regarded as estab- 
lished that London (including its tributary population) is the 
most rapidly-growing group in England. 

As regards the United States, the figures are not quite so 
convincing. In Chapter II it was indeed shown that among 
Massachusetts cities the most rapid growth is in the suburbs 
of Boston ; but even there it remains a fact that " Greater 
Boston" (either the 8 or 12 mile radius) had a smaller in- 
crease than the aggregate population of the 32 towns under 
municipal government.^ In New York State, although some 
individual cities, notably Buffalo, have outstripped New 
York — and even the New York suburbs, — as a class the in- 
land towns rank below the metropolis, especially when the 
legal boundaries of the latter are extended so as to embrace 
the towns and cities constituting the metropolitan group.* 

^ Ibid., p. 7. Glamorganshire is a mining county, as are five or six other coun- 
ties of rapid growth. 

^ Ante, p. 38. Cf. Mass. Census of jSg^, Pt. i, 45-49. 

'' Supra, Table CXLIX, footnote. Cf. the writer's article in N'orik Amer. Rev., 
166:615. 



448 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

While, on the whole, there is a strong tendency in the 
United States for manufacturing industry to locate in small 
cities like Fall River, Lawrence, New Bedford, etc., even such 
cities sooner or later enter the class of large cities; and 
commerce is wholly centralizing. Hence even in the United 
States, the general proposition remains true that the great 
cities (the class of 100,000+ population) are bound to ab- 
sorb an ever-increasing proportion of the country's popula- 
tion ; for the class of great cities increases not only by the 
growth of the cities themselves, but also by the constant ac- 
cession of smaller cities, without any corresponding loss. 

The fact, then, that urban growth is essentially a great- 
city growth, prompts us to examine with more care than we 
have yet done the position of the great city, the direction of 
its development, and if possible the limits of its growth. 
Then we may be able to suggest remedies for certain of the 
ills inherent in the situation. 

The ancient world was acquainted with great cities whose 
magnificence and wickedness do not yield to modern capi- 
tals. There are no accurate figures concerning the popula- 
tion of Thebes, Memphis, Babylon, Nineveh, Susa and 
Egbatana ; but the fact that the Greeks spoke of them with 
wonder argues their magnitude. For the Greeks themselves 
had several cities exceeding 100,000 in population. In the 
fifth century both Athens and Syracuse certainly surpassed 
this figure, and Syracuse had not then touched the zenith of 
her power. Carthage probably reached the figure of /o^r 
000. At the beginning of the Christian era, Alexandria 
contained 500,000, possibly 700,000 inhabitants, and a con- 
siderable number of Roman cities reached the 100,000 class ; 
but all of them, with the exception of Rome herself, were 
outside of Italy. Rome's population was 600,000-800,000 ; 
certainly not over 1,000,000; and during the first three cen- 
turies of the present era, it fluctuated about the number 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



449 



500,000. After Rome's decay, Constantinople was the only- 
European city whose population exceeded 100,000; but 
Constantinople in the early middle ages was overshadowed 
by Bagdad and rivalled by Damascus and Cairo. The mod- 
ern period was well begun (1600) before Paris wrested the 
first place from Constantinople, only to be overtaken and 
passed by London before the end of the seventeenth 
century. 

At the beginning of the sixteenth century Europe had six 
or seven cities of the 100,000+ class ; at its end some 13-14. 
This century was the period of commercial expansion and 
New World conquests. 

The seventeenth century was the period of the civil and 
religious wars. The great cities did not increase in number, 
Vienna and Madrid merely taking the place of Antwerp and 
Messina, which dropped out of the class. But their popula- 
tion increased about forty per cent, during the century, while 
Europe's population was nearly stationary. 

During the eighteenth century the population both of 
Europe and of the great cities increased about 50 per cent, 
and the number of great cities rose to 22. Their aggregate 
population in 1800 constituted about three per cent of 
Europe's population (say 4,100,000 in 120,000,000). 

During the nineteenth century the number of great cities 
has increased tremendously. In Europe alone the increase 
is calculated by Meuriot ^ as follows : 

Cities of 100,000 +. 

Year. No. Aggregate pop. Ratio to total pop. 

1850 42 9,000,000 3.80 

1870 70 20,000,000 6.66 

1895 120 37,000,000 10.00 

^In his recent work (pp. 30-31) devoted especially to the great cities: Des 
Agglomerations urbaines dans T Europe contemporaine ; Essai sur les causes, les 
conditions, les consiquences de leur developpement. Paris, 1897. 



450 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Table CLXIII. 



Rank of European 

cities in the years: 1800. 



Group A. 



1500. 1600. 1800. 



1 . London 9 i 

2. New York 

3. Paris 212 

4. Berlin 10 

5. Vienna 8 

6. Chicago 

7. Philadelphia 

8. St. Petersburg 7 

Group B. 

9. Constantinople . . . . i 2 5 
ID. Moscow 14 6 

11. Bombay 

12. Rio de Janeiro 

13. Calcutta 

14. Hamburg-Altoona . . . 

15. Manchester-Salford. . . 

16. Buenos Ayres 

17. Glasgow 

18. Liverpool 

Group C. 

19. Budapest 

20. Melbourne 

21. Warsaw 

22. Birmingham 

23. Madrid 12 

24. Brussels 

25. Naples 3 3 3 

26. Madras 

27. Boston 

28. Baltimore 

29. Lyons 19 

3c. Hyderabad 

•J I. Amsterdam 12 9 

32. Marseilles 18 

Group D. 

33. Sydney 

34. Copenhagen 21 

35. Cairo 

36. Leeds 

37. Leipzig 

38. Munich 

39. Pittsburg-Allegheny 

40. Breslau ._ 

41. Edinburgh-Leith 

42. Mexico 

43. Sheffield 

44. Milan s 5 15 

45. Odessa 

46. Dublin II 

47. Lisbon 6 10 4 

48. MinneapoIii-St.Paul 

49. Rome 8 13 

Group E. 

202. Venice 4 4 14 

113. Palermo 6 22 

— .Messina 7 

81. Antwerp 11 

183. Seville 13 

79. Barcelona 17 

155. Valencia 20 



5. 
958,8 

62,9 

546,9 

173,4 

232,0 

0,0 

81,0 
270,0 



Population in 
1850. 
Coo omitted.) 
6. 
2,362,1 
660,8 
1.053,3 
378,2 
431,1 
30,0 
408,8 
490,0 



Annual increase 



per cent. 



1800-90. 
7. 8. 

4,211,7 3-77 

2,740,6 - 47-3 
2,448,0 3.81 
1,578,8 

1,341,9 
1,099,9 
1,047,0 
1,003,3 



9.08 
S-3I 



19.25 
3.01 



1850-90. 

9- 
1.96 
7.89 
3-31 
7-94 
S.28 
89.21 

3-9° 
2.61 



300,0-1,000,0 ca 400,0+ 
ca 300,0 ca 360,0 



ca 150,0 
ca 125,0 
ca 800,0 
ca 120,0 
90,4 
ca 70,0 

77.1 
82,3 



ca 61,0 

0,0 

ca 65,0 

70,7 

156,7 

66.3 

ca 400,0 

ca 800,0 

24,9 
26,5 
109,5 
ca 200,0 
(1795) 217,0 
111,1 



2,5 

101,0 

250-700,0 

53.2 

32,1 

40,6 

1,6 

62,9 

81,4 

ca 137,0 

45,8 

ca 134,5 

1 

ca 160,0 

350,0 

0,0 

ca 153,0 



ca 150,0 

ca 100,0 

? 

56,3 
80,3 
111,4 
105,0 



873,6 ? 

822,4 ? 

821.8 4.97 
ca 800,0 ca 6.0 

741,1 o. 

711.9 S.48 
. ._ 703.5 7-63 

ca 120,0 (1895) 677,8 ca 9.6 

329,1 658,2 8.37 

376,0 518,0 6.21 



ca 560,0 

ca 170,0 

ca 400,0 

205,0 

"",5 



156,5 

23,1 

1 160,0 

232,8 

281,2 

188,5 

I 415,0 

1 700,0 

136,9 
169,1 
177,2 
I 200,0 
224,0 
195,3 



53,9 

ca 143,0 

ca 250,0 

172,3 

62,4 

109,5 

67,9 

110,7 

191,2 

ca 150,0 

135,3 

ca 190,0 

('56) 101,3 

261,7 

275.0 

1,1 

^75,9 



T 128,0 

175,8 

:a 75, o 

97,9 

"2,5 

183,8 
106,4 



491,9 ca 8.0 

490,9 

485,3 ca 7.2 

478.1 6.4 

470.3 2.2 
465,5 6.7 

463.2 ca .19 
452,5 deer. 
448,5 19-0 

434.4 ~ 18.2 

429.3 3-2 

415.0 ca 1.4 

408.1 .93 
403,7 2.94 



ca 2.96 

ca 3. 21 

ca 1.17 

ca 9.30 

ca 2.10 

6.18 

2.03 

ca 11.5 

2.5 

•95 



5.36 
50.6 
ca 5.1 
2.63 
1.68 
3.67 
ca .29 
deer. 
5-69 
3.92 
3.56 
ca 2.6 
2,16 
2.67 



15.28 
4.07 
cai.3 
2.84 

11.8 
5-5 

10.16 

5-07 

1.81 

ca 3.0 

3-49 
ca 1.7 
ca 5.0 

•47 
ca 3.0 
680. 
1.8 



132 8 1 C^*" numbers 
' preceding the 

names of these 
cities indicate 
their rank in 
Supan's list of 
the great cities 
of the world.) 



383,3 


■169.2 


375,7 
374,8 
367.5 


3.1 

? 

6.57 


357.1 
350,6 


11.2 

8.5 


343,9 
335,2 


--251.6 
4.81 


329.9 

89) 329,5 

324,2 


3-4 
ca 1.6 
6.76 


321,8 


ca 1.4 


313.7 




3TI,2 
307,7 


ca 1.05 
deer. 


302,3 




300,5 


ca i.i 



245,0 
78,4 

268,4 
143,2 
272,5 

170,8 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



451 



It is estimated that to-day more than ten per cent, of 
Europeans dwell in great cities. In individual countries, the 
proportion is much larger, as will be seen by reference to 
Table CXII. Thus, in England, one-third of the entire pop- 
ulation are inhabitants of great cities, while in the Australian 
colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, 40 per cent, of 
the people are resident in such cities (suburbs included). 

In Table CLXIII, some of the facts already given are sum- 
marized ; columns 2, 3, 4 giving the rank of the great cities 
in Europe since the beginning of the modern period ; while 
the succeeding columns give the population of the world's 
great cities of 300,000 and upward. The table does not in- 
clude the Chinese and Japanese cities, because statistical in- 
formation is lacking (save in the latest period for Japan). 
The estimates of population in Chinese cities vary nearly as 
much as did the estimate given of Constantinople's popula- 
tion at the beginning of the present century — between 300,- 
000 and 1,500,000. The annual rate of growth in 1 800-1 890 
and in 1850-90 has been calculated for each city; but only 
the latter period affords really trustworthy statistics on which 
to base comparisons. The American cities, together with the 
Australian cities, naturally lead the older countries, where 
population has not increased so rapidly either in cities or in 
rural districts. But in the period 1850-90 there is, on the 
average, no perceptible difference between the growth of 
cities in the Eastern commonwealths of the United States and 
that of European cities. The larger New York' is more than 
rivaled by Berlin ; Philadelphia is outstripped by Vienna ; 
while on the other hand, Boston and Baltimore compare 
favorably with European cities of corresponding magnitude. 

One is tempted here to ask if any limit to the growth of a 
great city exists, — a question that has always interested 

' Including Brooklyn, Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, and Long Island City, 
with Manhattan Island and the Bronx. 



452 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



speculative statisticians. Aristotle's ideal city is limited to 
10,000 inhabitants for political reasons. Hume, in his essay 
" On the Populousness of Ancient Nations," set the maximum 
population of Carthage, Pekin, Constantinople, London and 
Paris at about 700,000 each, and conjectured " from the ex- 
perience of past and present ages that there is a kind of im- 
possibility that any city can ever rise much beyond this pro- 
portion." ^ 

This is entertaining ; but so is the course of reasoning by 
which the eminent statistician Sir William Petty, writing a 
hundred years earlier than Hume, came to the conclusion 
that 5,000,000 was the upper limit of London's population. 
If the population of London went on doubling every 40 years 
as it was then doing, wrote Petty in 1686,^ by 1842 it would 
have 10,718,889; but in 1842 England, whose population 
doubled once in 360 years, would have only 10,917,389. 
Obviously, the 200,000 people in England outside of London 
could not supply the city with provisions. For one man in 
the city, another would have to be an agriculturist. Hence 
Petty concluded that London would stop growing in the next 
preceding period (1800) when it would have a population 
of about 5,000,000, leaving nearly 5,000,000 "to perform the 
tillage, pasturage, and other rural work necessary to be 
done without the said city." But Petty did not foresee the 
revolution in transportation systems that enables London to 
draw its wheat from Dakota, Manitoba, Argentina and India. 
In fact, he demonstrated to his own satisfaction that a city's 
food supply could not be brought from a greater distance 
than 35 miles. Cattle, he said, can bring themselves from a 
distance of about 35 miles; the ground enclosed in a circle 
whose radius is 35 miles will provide bread and drink, corn^ 

^Essays (Edinburgh, 1817),!, 430. 

^ Essay on the Growth of the City of London, in Essays on Political Arithmetic^ 
175s, p. 16. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 453 

hay and fodder, and timber for 600,000 houses,^ — equal to a 
population of about 5,000,000. 

Petty has had any number of followers, and they are not all 
dead yet. A very recent newspaper article, philosophizing 
on London's diminishing rate of growth, concludes thus : 
" Yet Petty was not far from guessing rightly. He estimated 
5,000,000 as the largest number of souls that nature would 
tolerate in one civic bond. The 5,000,000 limit is nearly 
reached fn London, and the resilient wave is perceptible." 
How far London's growth is from stopping we have already 
seen in taking account of the "overflow" population; how 
far short it comes from being limited at 5,000,000 we may 
see below : 

Date. DiFtrict. Area. Population. 

1891 ... .Registration county 118 sq. mi. 4,211,056 

1891 London and West Ham 4,415,958 

1891 •• ..Metropolitan police district 690 sq. mi. 5>633,332 

1895 " " " " «' " est. 6,048,555 

A fair estimate of the present population of the metropol- 
itan police district, which includes every parish within 12 
miles of Charing Cross, would be six and one-half million 
souls. 

And the New World agglomerations are following close 
after London. A careful estimate by Dr. Roger Tracy, reg- 
istrar of vital statistics in New York city, gave the present 
New York on January i, 1898, a population of 3,388,771 ; 
to which should be added Hudson county, Newark and 
Elizabeth, New Jersey, making a grand total of 4,029,517, 
"Greater Paris" had over 2,700,000 already in 1891 and now 
has at least 3,000,000; while "Greater Berlin" on January 
I, 1896, was credited with a population of 2,666,000. Even 
Boston, which ranked sixth among American cities in 1890, 
with a population of 448,477, was credited with 1,004,424 

' Ibid., p. 23. 



454 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



at the State census of 1895 in the territory within a radius of 
12 miles of the State House.' 

The advantages and disadvantages of such concentration 
of population have been discussed at length in a previous 
chapter. The discussion of remedies began at least twenty- 
centuries ago, and will perhaps continue twenty centuries 
hence. Plutarch's warning against the overgrowth of the 
great cities^ and Cicero's constant effort 3 to turn back 
the current of emigration from the country alike came to 
nought. Justinian tried to stop the current by legal meas- 
ures/ and mediaeval statesmen and monarchs followed a sim- 
ilar course. The extension of Paris beyond certain limits 
was prohibited by law in 1549, 1554, 1560, 1563, 1564 and 
1672.5 In the time of the later Tudors and Stuarts, procla- 
mation after proclamation was issued forbidding the erection 
of new houses in London and enjoining the country people 
to return to their homes.^ There were many good reasons 
for such action — the difficulties of municipal government, 
the fear of local pressure on Parliament, the difficulty of pro- 
viding an adequate food-supply ^ and water supply, the danger 
of fires (the Great Fire of 1665 !), and especially the danger- 
of plagues and epidemics arising from insanitary conditions. 
The evils enumerated in the Act of 1593^ are almost identical 
with those depicted in the recent report of the New York 
tenement house commission. " For the reforming of the 

^ op. cit., pt. i, p. 47. 
^ PrcEcepta Politica, 
' Ad. Ait., i, 19. 

* Pohlmann, Uebervolkerung der antiken Grossstddte, 169. 
^ Roscher, System der Volkswirtkschafi, iii, 39. 
''Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, ii, 172. 

' One of James T's proclamations was issued " on account of the present scarcity 
and dearth and of the high prices of corn and grain." 

* 35 Eliz., c. 6. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 455 

great mischiefs and inconveniences that daily grow and in- 
crease by reason of the pestering of houses with diverse 
families, harboring of inmates and converting of great houses 
into several tenements or dwellings, and erecting of new 
buildings within the cities of London and Westminster and 
other places near thereunto, whereby great infection of sick- 
ness and dearths of victuals and fuel hath grown and in- 
creased," it ordained that no new buildings should be erected 
(except for inhabitants of the "better sort,") and that 
houses should not be broken up into tenements, etc. 

While legislative prohibitions of city growth are now a 
thing of the past, it has been seriously proposed in Germany^ 
to check the overflow of rural laborers into the great cities 
by means of settlement fees. Any such proposal to limit 
individual freedom of movement would not be entertained in 
Anglo-Saxon communities. 

Not less hopeless are the schemes promoted by agricultur- 
ists to make farming more attractive and more remunerative 
with the help of scientific cultivation, allotments for laborers, 
and various legislative measures of relief.^ In themselves 
such measures are often praiseworthy, as is every plan of 
improving the moral and material condition of farmers.3 
But it is idle to hope that the adoption of any of these plans 
will stop the drift of farmers' sons cityward. The production 
of the world's food-supply calls for a definite amount of labor ; 
any project for increasing the per capita product of agricul- 
tural labor simply releases a certain amount of such labor 
for other occupations. From the same point of view are to 
be judged schemes of colonization of the city poor on farm- 

' By Roscher and others. Cf. Art. " Wohnungsfrage " in Conrad's Hdwbh. 6 : 
751, and 7: 21. 

- Cf. Leaflet No. i of the New York Association for the Improvement of the 
Condition of the Poor, on " Agricultural Depression." 

*Cf. Emerick, " An Analysis of Agricultural Discontent," in Pol. Sc, Quarterly, 
vol. xi. 



4^5 THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

ing lands. Aside from the difficulty of getting the tenement 
classes permanently away from the city/ and the question- 
ability of trying to make farmers out of men who fail in other 
trades, the world already has all the farmers it needs. Col- 
onization of the city poor may, indeed, be the salvation of 
individuals ; but it simply necessitates the transfer of other 
people in corresponding numbers from the country to the 
city.'' 

Another scheme of stopping migration cityward is to make 
village life more attractive. There is certainly opportunity 
for work in this direction. But so long as the present indus- 
trial organization endures, no amount of village improvement 
will keep ambitious youths at home, for the reason that all 
the opportunities for rising in the world are in the cities. If 
domestic industries could be re-established, villages would 
soon pick up. Efiforts are making on the part of philan- 
thropists to put out portions of their work in the country, 
but the success attained has been exceedingly limited, for 
employers have to contend not only with the irregularity of 
country labor, but with the hostility of city trade unionists, 
who resent the policy. In analyzing the conditions of pro- 
duction, we found little encouragement for the hope that 
improvements in electric motors would bring about decen- 
tralization of industry. It is a mistake to regard this as " at 
present the most hopeful method of withdrawing the pressure 
from our large industrial centres." 3 

Still another remedy proposed is administrative decentral- 
ization,* the building up of rural self-government and the 

^ Supra, p. 221. 

* Altogether different is the plan of sending city children into the country for 
part of the year. Such schemes as the George Junior Republic have as their ob- 
ject the training of citizens, not simply the making of farmers. 

" McKenzie, Introduction to Social Philosophy, io8. 

•A popular cry in England. Cf. Stephens, Rural Administration, 1896. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



457 



removal of garrisons and government offices to villages or 
small towns. But strategic reasons compel the concentration 
of military forces in cities, and the tendency toward consoli- 
dation is antagonistic to the dispersion of government 
offices. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that the 
conferring of more responsibility upon village officials than 
they enjoy at present on the continent of Europe, would 
afford a field for the ambition of men who now have to re- 
move from the village if they desire to enter politics. 

Perhaps some of the many gratuities (such as hospitals 
and medical service) in cities might be restricted with ad- 
vantage. There are those who advocate an abrupt discontin- 
uance of all public improvements in the city, lest they attract 
more migrants from the country; such persons would prefer 
to have the city remain a mud-hole. They are to be found 
in the class that can own country homes and thus escape city 
dangers. 

Is there, then, " no remedy until the accumulated miseries 
of overgrown cities drive the people back to the country?" 
One remedy is to admit the harmful tendencies of city life, 
to fight city degeneration on its own ground, and free city 
life from as many ills as possible. This work is now pro- 
ceeding on a vast scale, and in a vast number of ways. Pri- 
vate philanthropy and public supervision go hand in hand. 
Not only complete drainage, paving, water-supply, inspection 
of food, etc., are required from the municipality, but also 
small parks, playgrounds, public baths and laundries, and a 
variety of other institutions. A vast deal has been accom- 
plished in this line, and the work is only begun. Much may 
be expected from the progress of invention and discovery and 
the growth of capital. Prof. Marshall indicates how certain 
improvements (some of which have already been made in 
American cities) would " enable a large part of the popula- 



458 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



tion to live in towns and yet be free from many of the pres- 
ent evils of town life. The first step is to make under all the 
streets large tunnels, in which many pipes and wires can be 
laid side by side, and repaired when they get out of order, 
without any interruption of the general traffic and without 
great expense. Motive power, and possibly even heat, might 
then be generated at great distances from the towns (in some 
cases in coal mines) and laid on whenever wanted. Soft 
water and spring water, and perhaps even sea water and 
ozonized air, might be laid on in separate pipes to nearly 
every house; while steam-pipes might be used for giving 
warmth in winter, and compressed air for lowering the heat 
of summer ; or the heat might be supplied by gas of great 
heating power laid on in special pipes, while light was 
derived from gas especially suited for the purpose, or from 
electricity; and every house might be in electric communi- 
cation with the rest of the town. All unwholesome vapors, 
including those given off by any domestic fires which were 
still used, might be carried away by strong draughts through 
long conduits, to be purified by passing through large 
furnaces and thence away through huge chimneys into the 
higher air."^ 

But while much is to be expected in this direction in the 
near future, the most encouraging feature of the whole situ- 
ation is the tendency, heretofore alluded to in the present 
essay, toward the development of suburban towns.'' The 

^Principles of Economics, 3d ed., p. 305, note. 

^ In Vienna the suburbs in close connection with the city itself have long had a 
rapid growth. After 1870, with a population equal to about one-third of the city, 
they had larger increments of increase than the city itself. In 1891 they were in- 
corporated into the city having a population of 464,110 as compared with 798,719 
for the old city (figures for 1890; cf. Rauchberg, in St. Man., xix, 140 ff). Sim- 
ilar statistics might be given for the Saxon cities : Dresden, for instance, in 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 459 

significance of this tendency is that it denotes, not a cessation 
in the movement toward concentration, but a diminution in 
the intensity of concentration. Such a new distribution of 
population combines at once the open air and spaciousness 
of the country with the sanitary improvements, comforts and 
associated life of the city. The question is, however, whether 
the marked growth of the suburbs is because the cities are 
already too full to hold more, or because the populations of 
the congested districts are overflowing into the suburbs and 
thereby leaving a more tolerable condition for those behind. 
Hon. C. D. Wright, Superintendent of the eleventh census, 
takes the latter view and presents the following statistics in 
substantiation thereof :^ 

Increase or decrease per cent, of population, 1870-90. 

New York.^ Philadelphia. » Boston.* 

Congested wards 9.38 — 6.56 16. 

Remaining " 131-56 168.91 156. 

Entire city 60.81 55.33 76. 

The only one of the three cities in which the crowded dis- 
tricts actually lost population in 1870-90 was Philadelphia. 

creased by 56 per cent. 1871-90, while 28 of her suburbs increased by 233 per 

cent. •? 

Increase, or decrease. Population, 

per cent., 1870-90. 1890. 

28 towns under 2,000 — .3 39j09I 

93 towns 2,000-10,000 -i-26.4 454,910 

22 towns over io,oco •\-^l-'^ 987>46o 

150 suburbs of the 22 cities +146.3 462,575 

1" Urban Population," in Popular Science Monthly, xl (Feb., 1892), p. 463. 
2 The congested wards are 1-17, with the exception of 12, which is in the upper 
part of the city; this includes that part of the city below Fourteenth street and 
one ward (16) above. 

'Congested wards, 2-20, except 15. 

* Here the " congested wards " designate Boston proper, and the " remaining 
wards " the annexations. 

^ Cf. Lommatzch, Die Bewegung der Bev'olkerung Sachsens, pp. 24-8. For growth of the 
cities and suburbs, 1834-75, vide Zeitsckrift des Kngl. Siichs. Stat. Bureaus, 1876, p. 302. 



46o THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

Table CLXIV. 

Population per acre in New York City wards.' 
Ward. i860. 1880. 1890. 

I -f-Ji7-S 116.5 72.2 

2 +30-9 Jf9-8 ".4 

3 39-5 37-7 +39-6 

4^ 264.9 252.9 214.5 

5 •• +132.9 94.3 73-7 

6 +310.4 233.6 268.8 

7 201.9 252.9 -1-289.7 

8 +215.3 196.0 170.6 

9 137-8 +169.5 169.0 

10 272.7 432.3 +523-6 

" 303-9 350-9 +384-3 

12 5.5 14.8 +44.5 

13 307-6 353-2 +428.8 

14 292.5 +314-3 292.6 

15 139-3 +161.0 128.3 

16 129.4 +149.5 140.8 

17 220.4 +316.7 3"-6 

18 127.7 +148.0 140.6 

19 22.1 106.8 +158.5 

20 152.0 +193-7 189.9 

21 119-5 +161.8 153.3 

22 40.3 72.9 -|- 100.6 

23 6.6 +12.6 

24 1.6 +2.5 

Table CLXIV affords means of analyzing New York's 
growth more carefully ; it shows the average number of in- 
habitants per acre in each ward at the censuses of i860, 1880 
and 1890, the years in which the greatest density (/. <r., larg- 
est population) was attained being marked with a + sign. 
It is at once seen that there is a group of wards which at- 
tained their maximum population in i860 and have since 
declined. Another group attained their maximum density 
in 1880, and a third group was still growing in 1890. The 

^ Report N. Y. Tenement House Com., 1894, p. 273. Ward maps will be found 
in this report and also in the jitk Census, Vital Statistics of New York and 
Brooklyn. 

'' Maximum population in 1870, 286.1. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES ^6 1 

figures for 1870 are omitted since only one ward (No. 4 in 
the first group) showed a maximum (286.1) in that year. 

In the table the various groups do not seem to consist of 
contiguous wards, but this merely follows from the method 
of numbering. As a matter of fact the four groups do con- 
sist of contiguous and homogeneous districts. 

Group I (wards 1-6, 8, 14) comprises that part of the city 
south of Houston street and west of the Bowery and Cath- 
erine street. Ward 14 (between Houston and Canal, Broad- 
way and the Bowery) might perhaps be put with equal 
reason in Group H, but as it lost population in 1860-70, its 
gain in 1880 may be called temporary. Group I, then, is the 
"down-town" district, the financial and commercial centre of 
the city, — the seat of the banks, and the great importing 
houses. Here there has been a crowding out of dwellings 
by the building of business blocks and offices ; its density is 
lowest of any of the groups. 

Group n (wards 9, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21) consists of all the 
territory between 14th and 42d streets and also of that be- 
tween 14th and Houston streets, west of the Bowery. This 
is the district of retail trade, of hotels and theatres. It is 
now losing its residential character, having attained its largest 
growth in 1880. 

Group III consists of two districts: (a) Wards 7, 10, 13, 
II, 17, which lie east of the Bowery and Catherine street and 
south of 14th street; (b) Wards 19, 22, 12, 23, 24, which lie 
north of 42d street. The latter sub-group, comprising the 
upper part of the city's territory, is the least densely popu- 
lated of any and is the most rapidly growing of any. It is 
coming to be distinctly the residential section. But sub- 
group (a) consists of the most densely populated wards in 
the city; with a population of 523.6 persons to the acre, the 
Tenth Ward is probably the densest district in the Western 
world, Josefstadt in Prague having 485.4, the guartter BonnG- 



462 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Nouvelle in arrondissement Bourse in Paris 434.19, and 
Bethnal Green North in London 365.3. The Eleventh and 
Thirteenth Wards are also very densely populated. They 
are the really congested districts of New York, and yet their 
population has continued to increase since i860. 

An explanation of this may be found by turning to the 
map of nationalities in the Report of the i8g^ Tenement 
House Committee, which shows wards 10, 13 and 7, and in a 
less degree ward 1 1 , to be the seat of the Russian and Polish 
Jews, the Bohemians, and other nationalities of similar stand- 
ard of life. These nationalities, as we have seen, have come 
to us chiefly within the decade 1880-90; they naturally set- 
tled among their own countrymen and have not yet had time 
to scatter. At the same time their low standard of life made 
it easy for them to submit to live in the crowded and 
squalid quarters there provided. Ward 17, containing 
mainly Germans, is in this district but it really belongs to 
group II. as it lost population in 1880-90. It is to be re- 
marked that the Italians, who in New York are concen- 
trated in the Sixth, Fourteenth and Eighth wards, showed a 
disposition to disperse throughout the country between 
1 880-90 {ante ch. v.) Hence these wards are not so crowded 
as they formerly were. 

On the whole it may fearlessly be said that the congested 
districts of New York are losing population, with the excep- 
sion of those inhabited by the most recent immigrants. 
The latter make a new problem, which can be solved only by 
adequate building and sanitary laws and rigid inspection to 
prevent overcrowding and living amidst unhealthy surround- 
ings. 

The growth of London's population points even more con- 
clusively to the diminution of congestion in the business dis- 
tricts and the outflow toward the suburbs. In the decade of 
1 88 1-9 1, there was a decrease of population in 1 1 of the 30 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES ^g^ 

historic districts of registration London. The ii districts 
constitute the oldest and central portion of the metropolis, 
a portion that has been losing its population since 1861, 
and in a few districts even longer. Comparing the growth 
of the central area with the remaining districts of registration 
London and with the outer ring in " Greater London," we have 
the following results:^ 

Table CLXV. 

Increase or decrease per cent. 

1861-71. 1871-81. 1881-91. Pop., 1891. 

Central area (11) —2.7 — 4.6 — 7.2 1,022,951 

Other districts (19) 29.8 29.3 17.5 3,188,792 

London (Registr. Co.) . 16.0 17.3 10.4 4,211,743 

Outer ring 50.8 50.5- 49.5 1,422,063 

Greater London ^ 20.6 22.7 18.2 5,633,806 

The decrease in the central area as a whole has taken place 
only since 1861, as the following table shows : 

Table CLXVI. 

Population of central area (11 districts). Pop. of other 

Percentage (ig) districts 

Aggregate. of London. Per acre. per acre. 

180I 588,264 61.3 60.9 5.7 

185I 1,129,599 48.0 1 16.9 19.0 

1861 1,187,687 42.3 122.9 25.0 

1871 1,155.462 35.5 1 19.6 32.4 

1881 1,101,994 28.8 II4.I 41.9 

189I 1,022,951 24.3 105.9 49.2 

But while the central area grew in absolute numbers and 
in density up to 1861, it did not keep pace with the outer 
districts, because its proportion to the population of entire 
London steadily fell throughout the century. The increase 

^ Census of England, 1891, iv, 16. 

^Includes every parish of which any part is within I2 miles of Charing Cross. 
(Metropolitan police district.) 



464 ^^^ GROWTH OF CITIES 

in the density of the outer districts has been rapid since 
1801, rising from 5.7 to 49.2. 

In four or five of the districts of the central area, the pro- 
cess of depopulation began earlier than 1861. For our pur- 
pose it will be sufficient to trace the process in the two oldest 
districts, London City and Strand:^ 

Table CLXVII, 

London City. The Strand. 

Popula- Increase or Popula- Increase or 

tion. decrease ',». tion. decrease f. 

180I 128,833 50.854 

1811 121,124 —15-98 51.334 +-94 

1821 125,065 +3.26 55,152 +7.44 

1831 123,608 —I.I 7 50.385 —8.64 

1841 124,717 + .90 52,209 +3.62 

1851 129,128 +3.54 51,765 —.85 

1861 113,387 — 12.19 48,242 — 6.81 

1871 75.983 —32-99 41.339 —14-31 

1881 51.439 —32.30 33.582 —18.76 

1891 38,320 — 25.50 27,516 — 18.1 

The Strand attained its maximum population as far back 
as 1 82 1, and since then it has regularly lost, except in the 
decade 1 831-41. London City reached its maximum popu- 
lation in 1 85 1, but this scarcely exceeded its population of 
1 80 1, so that we can say that its population was stationary 
during the first half of the century and has since declined, the 
rate of decrease like that of the Strand becoming very con- 
siderable after 1861. 

Now in 1 801 London City with a population of 192.86 to 
the acre was the densest district in the metropolis, with the 
exception of Westminster (213.42) whose population began 
to decrease after 1841 ; in 1881, its density was 77. Taken 



^The following data are from Price Williams's article, "The Population of 
London, 1801-1881," in Jour, of St. Soc, xlviii (1885), pp. 398-9, and Census 
of i8gi, ii, 8. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



465 



in connection with the comparative density of the central 
area and the other districts (Table CLXVI), it may be re- 
garded as proved that in London the congested districts 
have been relieved by the efflux of a part of their population 
to the outer districts or to the suburbs.^ 

The German census of 1895 gave Berlin an increase over 
1890 of only 6.2 per cent., whereas its growth in the previous 
five-year periods had been from 16 to 20 per cent. It was 
soon discovered that the towns surrounding Berlin had in- 
creased tremendously, thus showing that Berlin had reached 
the point of " saturation " and was overflowing. While Ber- 
lin added 98,342 persons to her population, the suburbs 
within a radius of 10 kilometers (6.2 English miles) added 
167,135, although in 1890 they had scarcely one-sixth as 
large a population as Berlin itself. (Cf. Table CLXVIII). All 
the districts in the business centre (Berlin, Alt-Coin, Fried- 
richswerder, Dorotheenstadt, Friedrichstadt) have been los- 
ing population since about 1861 — a few earlier and some 
later. 

While the old city within the walls has nearly ceased grow- 
ing, its decrease, as a whole, has not yet begun. Individual 
districts, however, have lost population so that the number 
of inhabitants to the square kilometre in the innermost ring 

^ The tables by Mr. Price Williams, loc. cit., p. 430, indicate a similar conclusion : 

Average 
Pop., 1881. per acre. 

10 districts — pop. diminishing 878,556 128 

sub-districts " 335.HO 146 

Total 1,213,696 133 

11 districts — pop. above the average per acre 

and increasing Cexcl. of above sub- 
districts) 1,573,602 87 

8 districts — pop. below the average per acre 

and increasing rapidly 1,029,185 22 

29 Grand total 3,816,483 51 



466 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



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TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES ^^y 

(within a radius of one kilometre of the city hall) was 32,589, 
while in the second ring (radius, 1-2 kilometres) it was 54,- 
024.' Similarly in Vienna, the respective figures of density 
in two concentric districts were 25,154 and 38,894.^ A strik- 
ing example of the tendency is revealed in the statistics of 
Hamburg: 3 

Population, in thousands. 
1867. 1880. 1890. 

Inner city 157 171 161 

Remainder 64 n6 158 

15 suburbs 45 120 245 

The process thus sketched for New York, London, etc., is 
known as " city-building." The original settlement becomes 
the business centre and for some time continues to grow 
rapidly. But if the city prospers, the time will come when 
this old centre is more and more needed for strictly business 
purposes; houses disappear before the march of office-build- 
ings, government buildings, banks, etc., until the only resi- 
dents left are the janitors and portiers, the keepers of the 
great buildings.'^ With continued growth, the business cen- 
tre extends itself and steadily pushes the dwellings toward 
the circumference, until at length the municipal limits are 
reached and passed. 

American cities are not so compactly built as European 
cities. On the continent especially, where it is still the prac- 
tice to live in rooms connected with one's store or workshop, 

^ Die Bevolkerungs- tmd Woknujtgsaufnahme votn i Dez. i8go in der Stadt 
Berlin, i Heft., Berlin, 1893, p. xiv, ff. 

*See the article of E. Hasse, entitled " Die Intensitat grossstadtischer Men- 
schenanhaufungen, Allg. Stat. Archiv, ii, 615 ff. It is only the very largest cities, 
as Hasse's investigation shows, which have reached this condition. In Paris 
several of the central arrondissements have been losing population. (Cf. Meuriot, 
op. cit., ch. xii, where the subject is more extensively treated.) 

'^ Statistik des Hamburgischen Staates, Heft xvi, Census of 1890. 

* In 1 85 1 there were 14,580 inhabited dwellings in London City; in 1881,6,493. 



468 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the density of population is remarkable in comparison with 
American cities, thus:^ 

No. of cities Area in Population 

considered. acres. Total. Per acre. 

United States 28 638,235 9,670,000 15.2 

England 22 231,150 8,840,000 38.3 

Germany 15 193,290 5,000,000 25.9 

Almost as many English urbanites dwell on 230,000 acres 
as Americans on 638,000 acres. The German percentage is 
somewhat more favorable, until we restrict the comparison to 
the building area. Then the population per acre in fifteen 
American cities is 22 as compared with 157.6 in thirteen 
German cities.^ 

Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in the 
world. Upon an area slightly smaller than Kansas City's 
(20,774 acres), Paris concentrates about two and one-half 
million persons as contrasted with the latter's 133,000. The 
following comparative table of individual cities will further 
illustrate the point here insisted upon:^ 

Table CLXIX. 

Acreage. 

London 74,692 

Present New York 230,000 

Paris 19,295 

Berlin 15,661 

Chicago 102,765 

Philadelphia 82,807 

Brooklyn 18,084 

Liverpool 5.210 

Manchester 12,788 

Hamburg 18,544 

St. Louis 39>276 

Boston 2/1,231 

Baltimore 18,867 

Birmingham : 8,400 5 i.i 

^ iitk Cen., Social Statistics of Cities,^. 14. Population is given in round 
numbers. 
* Ibid. 

^ Ibid., 13. Names of American cities are indented, and their density put in a 
separate column. 



Pop. 


per acre. 


564 




— 


13.0 


126.9 




100.8 






10.7 




12.6 


— 


44.6 


99.4 




39-5 




30.7 






"•5 




18.5 




23.0 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



469 



These figures are to be used cautiously, as they depend 
somewhat upon the amount of suburban territory recently 
annexed:^ but on the whole, they demonstrate that popula- 
tion is spread out over a larger territory in American than in 
European cities. It has sometimes been urged that this is 
largely a result of the development of the electric street 
railway in America, but the causal connection is not appa- 
rent. The first street railway using electric propulsion was 
opened in 1886, and the number of miles in operation at the 
time of the latest census was not only small in the aggregate, 
but was restricted for the most part to smaller cities than 
those at present under consideration. It should rather be 
said that the American penchant for dwelling in cottage 
homes instead of business blocks after the fashion of Europe 
is the cause, and the trolley car the effect. Philadelphia was 
the " city of homes " long before rapid transit. Philadelphia 
in 1880 led all other American cities in length of horse-car 
lines, but the horse-car is too slow to carry the majority of 
workingmen to and from their work each day. Hence the 
comparative figures of mileage and number of rides per in- 
habitant of American and European cities are indications of 
low or high density of population, which may be regarded as 
the cause of street railway building.^ 

^ Thus, in the old New York there were 58.7 inhabitants to the acre in 1890-1, 
while Paris had 126.9 ^nd Berhn 100.8; and yet it is altogether probable that 
New York suffers more from dense crowding than do the two European capitals, 
for the vast majority of New Yorkers live below the Harlem, where the density in 
1894 was 143.2 (iV. Y. Tenement Hotise Co7nmittee Report, p. 256). 

^ The nth Cen. Rep. on Transportation by Land (p. 685) contain scompara- 
tive figures of the average number of rides annually per inhabitant : 

New York 297 Buffalo 65 

Kansas City 286 London 74 

San Francisco 270 Liverpool 51 

Boston, Lynn and Cambridge. 225 Glasgow 61 

Brooklyn 183 Berlin 87 

Chicago 164 Hamburg 78 

Philadelphia 158 Vienna 43 

St. Louis 150 Budapest 37 

Berlin, with the best street railway system in Europe, would rank twenty- 
second among the 28 American cities of 100,000-)-. 



Ayo THE GROWTH OF CITIES 

A better index of suburban travel is the number of com- 
muters carried by the steam railways and their percentage in 
the total number of passengers. Such statistics are furnished 
by the Eleventh Census {Social Statistics of Cities, pp. 49- 
50) and it appears that, on the whole, suburban traffic in- 
creases in the same ratio with the magnitude of cities : 

Table CLXX. 

No. of Ratio of commuters 

Cities. cities. Commuters. to all passengers. 

10,000-25,000 75 4,765,884 28.6 

25,000-50,000 29 6,667,220 29.3 

50,000-100,000 23 3.956,938 SI'I 

100,000+ 24 79,945,182 52.1 

Total 151 95»335>224 464 

In the matter of street railway travel, Chicago and Phila- 
delphia ranked far below New York, Evidently this is con- 
nected with the fact that they have a larger traffic on the 
regular railway lines. But the palm for suburban travel be- 
longs to Boston, which had almost as many commuters as 
New York and Chicago put together : ' 

Commuters. Ratio to all passengers. 

Boston 24,587,000 62.9 

Chicago 16,903,000 85.9 

Philadelphia 10,714,000 70.7 

New York 8,643,000 26.9 

Cincinnati 3,697,000 86.9 

Pittsburg 2,698,000 48.8 

San Francisco 2,367,000 37.3 

St, Louis 2,164,000 75.8 

It is clear that we are now in sight of a solution of the 
problem of concentration of population. The trolley car and 
the bicycle may serve the purpose in middle-sized cities or 
even in the less populous cities of the first class. But when 
the city attains a population of a quarter of a miUion, more 

^Ibid., 50, 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 



471 



rapid transit than the electric surface railway can furnish is 
imperatively demanded. A surface railway cannot well run 
cars at a speed of more than nine miles an hour, and the 
legal Hmit in New York State is ten miles an hour. But, as 
few workingmen can afiford to spend more than half an hour 
in going to their work, they would then be compelled to 
dwell within three or four miles of the factory and could not 
have homes in the open country or suburbs, which are at 
least seven miles beyond the centre of the large city. Even 
the elevated system would not serve the purpose with its 
regular trains, which cannot be run at a speed in excess of 
12 miles an hour. On the other hand, the regular railway 
lines with fast suburban trains are too few in number to serve 
a large territory. The sole remedy is the multiplication of 
steam railroads or the building of elevated and underground 
four-track systems, thus providing for express trains with a 
speed of at least 25 miles an hour. Then the workingman 
could establish his dwelling in the suburbs anywhere within 
a radius of ten miles of the centre of the city. Moreover, by 
virtue of the geometrical proposition that the areas of two 
circles are to each other as the squares of their radii, you will 
quadruple the area for residences every time you double the 
distance travelled. If in the first case (3 mile radius), the 
land within the circle afifords room for 20,000 dwellings, when 
you double the speed (ordinary elevated system) you will 
have an area large enough for 80,000 dwellings. Double it 
again (the underground railway supposition) and you will 
have ground for 320,000 houses. 

The transcendent importance of rapid transit as a remedy 
for overcrowding has been recognized most adequately in 
Belgium, where the railways are principally state-owned. 
The government there has not only provided an adequate 
train service for workingmen residing in suburban towns, but 
has established the rates of fare on a cheap basis that permits 



472 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



the train service to be used daily by workingmen. The ser- 
vice to and from work costs 2i cents a week to those travel- 
ing three miles or less, and gradually increases up to 57 
cents for 42 miles. 

By the Cheap Train Acts of 1883, the English Parliament 
subsidized the railways entering London with about $2,000,- 
000 a year, in the shape of remission of taxes, for the provis- 
ion of workmen's trains. A season ticket for one year (600 
journeys for a distance of 22 miles) can be obtained for about 
four cents per journey. New York still lags behind, but 
Chicago and more especially Boston (where the legislature 
has aided the public) are developing a first-rate system of 
suburban communication. It cannot be doubted that the 
extremely satisfactory housing of Bostonians as compared 
with European urbanites,' is due not less to the fostering of 
suburban travel by the steam railways than to the development 
of the trolley system. Another striking example is that of 
Sydney, New South Wales:'' 

Population of 

. The city. The suburbs. 

184I 29,973 

1851 44,240 9,684 

1861 56,840 38,949 

1871 74,566 63,210 

1881 100,152 124,787 

1891 107,652 275,631 

In the city itself growth has almost ceased, while the 
suburbs more than doubled their population in the last de- 
cade. But the city cannot be called overcrowded, for in 

' Robert P. Porter in the Report of the Mass. Special Commission 07t the Rela- 
tions between Cities and Street Railway Companies (1898, p. 218) calls attention 
to the fact that Boston has only 1,053 families dwelling in a single room as com- 
pared with 120,000 in Glasgow. The percentages of all families are respectively 
ly^ and 33. 

^ Census of N. S. W., i8gi. Statistician's Report, p. 120, 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES 473 

1 89 1 it had only 37.4 inhabitants to the acre. This is a very- 
low density ; in New York city there are only three wards in 
which the population is less dense — the Second, which is al- 
and most wholly given over to business, and the Twenty-third 
Twenty-fourth, north of the Harlem river. (Table CLXIV). 

Attention has often been called to another encouraging 
tendency favoring suburban growth, namely, the transference 
of manufacturing industries to the suburbs. The local ad- 
vantages of a suburban town have been pointed out ; they 
include not only a great saving in rent and insurance, but 
economy in the handling and storing of goods. All carting 
is avoided by having a switch run directly into the factory ; 
saving to machinery is effected by placing it all on solid 
foundations on the first floor ; and plenty of space is at hand 
for the storing of fuel and materials, so that these may be 
bought when the market offers the most favorable terms. 
Finally, the suburban employer is likely to secure a high 
grade of employees. On the one hand, he is not antagon- 
ized by the trade unions, who can treat with him as effectively 
as if he were in the city itself ; on the other hand, his large 
workshops, and the prospect of a cottage and garden, and 
open air Hfe, attract operatives of the best class. Statistical 
data regarding the location of factories in suburbs are not 
available, but the strong tendency in that direction is familiar 
to all Americans. A similar tendency is noticeable in Eu- 
rope, and it has been remarked that although Manchester, 
Leeds and Lyons are still the chief centres of the trade in 
cotton, woollen and silk goods, they no longer produce any 
great part of these stuffs. Manchester is surrounded with 
scores of industrial cities and villages. 

Suburban growth as a result of this tendency cannot be 
forced ; it must wait upon economic forces. But the growth 
of purely residential suburbs can be influenced a great deal 
by public policy. In the past it was chiefly the middle 



474 



THE GEO WTH OF CITIES 



classes who could afford to dwell in the suburbs. But if 
society wishes to minimize the evils of concentration of pop- 
ulation, it must abandon the hope of accomplishing great 
things by such palliatives as model tenements, (which, if lo- 
cated in the city, often serve merely to prevent factories from 
moving to the suburbs), building laws, inspection of build- 
ings, and the various other ameliorations already discussed. 
Four goals are of fundamental importance: (i) a shorter 
working day, which will permit the workingman to live at a 
distance from the factory; (2) associations for promoting 
the ownership of suburban homes by workingmen ; (3) cheap 
transit ; (4) rapid transit. The importance of the two latter 
policies has been urged in so eloquent words by Dr. Cooley 
that they deserve quotation: 

" Humanity demands that men should have sunlight, fresh air, the sight of grass 
and trees. It demands these things for the man himself, and it demands them 
still more urgently for his wife and children. No child has a fair chance in the 
world who is condemned to grow up in the dirt and confinement, the dreariness, 
ugliness and vice of the poorer quarters of a great city. It is impossible to think 
with patience of any future condition of things in which such a childhood shall 
fall to the lot of any large part of the human race. Whatever struggles manhood 
must endure, childhood should have room and opportunity for healthy moral and 
physical growth. Fair play and the welfare of the human race alike demand it. 
There is, then, a permanent conflict between the needs of industry and the needs 
of humanity. Industry says men must aggregate. Humanity says they must not, 
or if they must, let it be only during working hours and let the necessity not ex- 
tend to their wives and children. // is the office of the city railways to reconcile 
these conflicting requirements." 

The extent to which this function may be fulfilled is indi- 
cated by the progress already made in Boston, Sydney, etc. 
Even in the European city of Frankfort it was found in 1893 
that about 60 per cent, of the population doing business there 
lived outside.^ The electric trolley car is helping in the 
transformation, and its influence will undoubtedly be ap- 
parent in the Twelfth Census. 

^ Bleicher, in Proceedings of Budapest Cong., vii, 466. 



TENDENCIES AND REMEDIES ^y^ 

The " rise of the suburbs " it is which furnishes the solid 
basis of a hope that the evils of city life, so far as they result 
from overcrowding, may be in large part removed. If con- 
centration of population seems destined to continue, it will 
be a modified concentration which ofifers the advantages of 
both city and country life. It will realize the wish and the 
prediction of Kingsley {^Miscellanies: "Great Cities"), — "a 
complete interpenetration of city and country, a complete 
fusion of their different modes of life and a combination of 
the advantages of both, such as no country in the world has 
ever seen." 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 



The first scientific monograph devoted to the subject of urban and rural popu- 
lations and the migration from the latter to the former was written by M. A. 
Legoyt, the distinguished chief of the French bureau of statistics : Du Progres des 
Agglomerations Urbaines et de I'Emigration Rurale,^ Paris, 1870, pp. 2S0. It was 
an admirable piece of work for the period in which it was written, but is now ren- 
dered obsolete by the publication of new material. The second monograph 
worthy of mention was by the Swede, J. Gamborg : Om Byerne og Landt, i deres 
indbyrdes forhold med hensyn til Befolkring og Produktion, Christiana, 1877. 
Nothing more in the shape of scientific treatises appeared, to the author's knowl- 
edge, until very recently, when several writers on the continent of Europe have 
put out monographs in rapid succession: (i) M. Heins, La Belgique et ses 
grandes Villes au XIX^ Siecle, La Population, Ghent, 1897; (2) R- Kuczynski, 
Der Zug nach der Stadt; Statistische Studien iiber Vorgange der Bevolkerungs- 
bewegung im Deutschen Reiche,^ Miinchen, 1897; (3) ^^^^ Meuriot, Des Ag- 
glomerations urbaines dans I'Europe contemporaine ; Essaisur les Causes, lesCon- 
ditiones, les Consequences de leur Developpment, Paris, 1897. The last is a 
Doctor's thesis and is the most thorough study made since Legoyt, but is greatly 
inferior to the latter in originality and freshness, as well as arrangement. Noth- 
ing at once systematic and scientific has been published in English, altho the 
city problem has been attacked by Robt. Vaughan, The Age of Great Cities, 2d 
edition, London, 1843; Fothergill, The Town Dweller; and Strong, The Twent- 
ieth Century City, New York, 1898. 

In periodical literature and encyclopedias there is a valuable body of writings 
on this subject. Dr. G. B. Longstaflf has a short but well-written chapter in his 
Studies in Statistics, and has contributed noteworthy articles on Rural Depopula- 
tion to Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy, and the Journal of the London 
Statistical Society, 56: 380 (Sept., 1893). The chapter on Les Populations 
Urbaines in Levasseur's La Population Frangaise (vol. ii, Paris, 1891) can not be 
neglected, nor can the pertinent chapters in Rauchberg's Die Bevolkerung Oester- 
reichs. One of the most important resumes of the recent results is given by A. 
Wirminghaus, Stadt und Land, unter dem Einfluss der Binnenwanderungen, in 
Jahrbiicher fiir Nation aloekonomie und Statistik, Ixiv, pp. i, 161. "Writers who 
have touched the subject incidentally but luminously are Bucher, essay on Die 
inneren Wanderungen in his EntstehungderVolkswirthschaft; Hobson, Evolution 
of Modern Capitalism; Pearson, National Life and Character. Finally, it remains 

* Cited in text as Legoyt. 

* Cited in text as Kuczynski. 

(476) 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 



477 



to mention some of the fuller text-books, such as Roscher's System der National- 
okonomie, vol. Ill; Wagner's System, etc., vol. I (Grundlagen der Volkswirth- 
schaft), etc. Reference should also be made to Schonberg's Handbuch der Pol- 
itischen Oekonomie, Art. Bevolkerungslehre, and Conrad's Handworterbuch der 
Staatswissenschaften, Art. Bevolkerungswesen, etc. An extended discussion of 
nimierous phases of the subject was held at the Eighth International Congress of 
Hygiene and Demography at Budapest, 1894, a full report of which is published 
in the Proceedings (Vol. VII). 

Most of the works above-mentioned contain numerous references to authorities 
or sources of information, but the best bibliographies are to be found in the fol- 
lowing : 

For Chapter II. 

A recent account of the organization of government statistical offices and their 
publications on population statistics will be found in Meuriot, op. cit. Additional 
references to the German statistics are to be found in the article of Wirminghaus, 
above cited, and, especially for the municipal statistics, in the article of Bruckner, 
Allgemeines Statistisches Archiv, i, 135. For the United States, see E. C. Lunt, 
Key to the Publications of the United States Census, in publications of the Amer- 
ican Statistical Association, i, 105. 

The most important compendium of recent statistics of the population of towns 
and cities is the Ortsstatistik of Alexander Supan, constituting the ninth number 
of Wagner-Supan's Bevolkerung der Erde ^ and Erganzungsheft No. 107 of Peter- 
mann's Mitteilungen, Gotha, 1893. Nearly every country in the world is em- 
braced in this compendium, and their statistical publications containing data re- 
specting the population of towns are, of course, cited in full. 

Statistical data for the first half of the century have frequently to be sought in 
the handbooks of Staatenkunde, of which the more important are : 

Hassel, Statistische Uebersichtstabellen der sammtlichen Europaischen Staaten, 
Gottingen, 1809. (Cited as Hassel, 1809, in text.) 

Hassel, Statischer Umriss der sammtlichen Europaischen und der vomehmsten 
aussereuropaischen Staaten in ihrer Entwicklung, Grosse, Volksmenge, Finanz- 
und Militarverfassung tabellarisch dargestellt. 3 Hefte. Weimar, 1823-4. 
(Cited in text as Hassel, 1822.) 

J. E. Worcester, Geographical Dictionary or Universal Gazetter, 2 vols., An- 
dover, 181 7. (Cited as Worcester in text.) 

Malchus, Statistik und Staatenkunde von Europa. Stuttgart and Tiibingen, 
1826. (Contains ample bibliography, pp. 2C-39.) 

Bernoulli, Handbuch der Populationsstatistik. Ulm, 1841. 

Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World. New York, 1855. (Cited as 
Plarper.) 

Wappaus, AUgemeine Bevolkerungsstatistik. Leipzig, 1861. (Especially im- 
portant for the statistics of 1845-55.) 

' Cited in text as Supan. 



478 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 



Kolb, Handbuch der vergleichenden Statistik. 2d edition, i860; 8th edition, 
1879. (Cited as Kolb, i860, and Kolb, 1879, respectively.) 

Almanach de Gotha. 

Statesman's Year Book, since 1864. 

Brachelli, Die Staaten Europas. 4th ed., 1884. 

The books above mentioned, together with the citation of authorities in the 
statistical tables of Chapter II., comprise the principal sources of information. 

Chapters IV to IX. 

The authorities used in Chapter III are enumerated under the several sections 
of that chapter, and through the remaining chapters of the essay in foot-note ref- 
erences. It is not, therefore, necessary to repeat titles here, especially as classi- 
fied bibliographies are accessible in the encyclopedias or handbooks of economics 
and social sciences, notably those of Conrad and Schonberg and Wagner. 
Particularly valuable are the bibliographies appended to the separate sections of 
Mayr's Bevolkerungsstatistik, 1897 (especially Sees. 26, 27, 37, 39, 81), and the 
classified bibliography of 100 pages in Bevolkerungslehre und Bev5lkerungspolitik 
by A. von Fircks (Leipzig, 1898). 

As to the municipal conditions and the problems of city life, see Robt. C. 
Brooks's Bibliography of Municipal Administration and City Conditions (Muni- 
cipal Affairs, March, 1897). 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Alexander, E. P. 204 

Allen, W. F. 17 

Ammon, O. 366, 385, 390, 394, 441 

Andrews, E. B. 227 

Aristotle 428, 452 

Arlidge 360 

Asboth, von 121 

Aschrott, P. F. 214 

Ashley, W. J. 169, 177, 178, 193 

Atkinson, Edward 184 

Bagehot, Walter 185 

Balbi 120 

Ballod, C. 247 

Beaumaire, Vicomte de 211 

Becher, S. 95 

Beddoe, John 394 

Beloch 163 

Bernouilli 477 

Bertillon 295, 329, 416 

Billings, J. S. 32, 295, 341, 392 

Bindewald, von 426 

Blackmar, F. W. 407 

Bleicher, H. 269, 270, 271, 272, 
280, 290, 293, 294, 295, 298, 
332, 344, 357, 363, 364, 365, 

373. 381,383,411,474 
Block, M. 78, 79, 120 
Boeckh, R. 240, 241, 295, 361, 374 
Botzow, C. 172 
Booth, Charles 243, 257, 281, 341, 

371, 382, 390 
Bowmaker 353 
Boyd, Carl 34 
Brachelli, H, 478 
Brooks, R. C. 478 
Brown, F. J. 312 
Brownell, Miss J. L. 338-41 
Bruckner, N. 85, 86, 248, 267, 281, 

283, 293, 325, 329, 331, 342, 391, 
Bryce, James 223, 429 
Buchenberger, A. 211 
Bucher, Karl 169, 175, 180, 185, 

231, 273, 288, 290 299, 476 
Bulgarius, Thaddaeus 107 
Buschen, A. von 107 



Cannan, Edward 51 

Cantlie 370 

Carroll, H. K. 400 

Cato 394 

Chastellux, Comte de 75 

Chisholm, J. C. 54 

Cicero 454 

Clark, John B. 228 

Closson, C. C. 441 

Coghlan, T. A. 138, 139, 140 

Collet, Miss E. B. 361 

Cooley, C. H. 169, 183, 198 

Coulanges, de 169 

Crawford, J. M. 105 

Crooker, J. H. 220, 438 

Crum, F. S. 242, 295, 320, 333, 387 

Cunningham, Wm. 169, 171, 454 

Curtis, T. B. 295 

Cutting, R. F. 421 

Delille, Leopold 231 

Deparcieux 235-6 

Devine, E. T. 422 

Dixon, F. H. 200 

Dunbar, P. L. 313 

Durkheim, E. 185 

Edson, C. 341 

Emerick, C. F. 211, 455 

Engel, E. 82, 83, 341, 342, 387, 394, 

413 
Epps, Wm. 217 
Farr, Wm. 345, 348 
Fetter, F. A. 338, 341 
Fircks, A. von 478 
Fiske, J. 14 

Fletcher, H. F. 212, 220 
Fothergill, J. 476 
Foville, A. de 78, 79, 169 
Fowler, W. W. 169 
Franscini, S. 117 
Galton, Sir Francis 387 
Gamborg, J. 476 
Gannett, Henry 13 
Geddes, P. 295 
George, Henry 216, 368, 439 
Gibbins, H. de B. 165, 166, 179 

(479) 



278, 
328, 
366, 



37°: 



282, 
.477 

222, 



48o 



lADEX OF A UTHORS 



Giffen, Sir Rob't. 226 

Gilman, N. P. 2 

Gladden, Washington 437 

Gohlert, J. V. 95 

Goldstein, J. 426 

Goltz, von der 216 

Goodnow, F. J. 15 

Gould, E, R. L. 353 

Graham, P. A. 188, 210, 211, 213, 216, 

421, 422 
Graunt, Capt. John 232, 233, 234, 235, 

367 
Green, Mrs. J. R. 169 
Hadley, A. T, 79, 184, 200, 338 ' 
Hackel, Ernst 185 
Ilalley, Edmund 235 
Hansen, Georg 262, 370, 371, 373, 378, 

379, 381, 384, 385, 386, 388 
Harper 127, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 

477 
Harrison, Frederic 443 
Hartwell, E. L. 353 
Hasse, E. 467 
Hassel 95, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 128, 

477 
Hearn 169 
Heins, M. 476 
Held, Adolph 184 
Hirschberg 412 
Hobson, J. A. 52, 53, 56, 148, 181, 182, 

184, 225, 229, 399, 433, 434, 476 
Hoffman, F. L. 310, 311, 313, 314 
Hoffman 84 
Holmes 426 
Hooker, R. H. 341 
Hourwich, I. 170 
Hume, D. 163, 452 
Inama-Sternegg, von 383 
James, E. J. 19 
Jannasch, R. 82, 83, 107, 203 
Juraschek, F. von 356 
King, Gregory 44 
Kingsbury 221, 421 
Kingsley, Charles 475 
Koppen, P. von 107 
Kohl, J. C. 169 

Kolb 119, 120, 121, 128, 134, 478 
Korosi, J. 329 
Kuczynski, R. 233, 234, 286, 287, 298, 

303, 358, 384, 385. 394, 476 
Kuhn, £.171 
Lagneau, E. 346 
Laing 7 

Lapouge, G. 441, 442 
Laspeyres, E. 197, 201 
Laveleye, E. 216 



Lavergne, L. de 167 

Lecky, W. E. H. 222 

Legoyt, M. A. 49, 211, 230, 294, 322, 
476 

Lehr, A. 383, 

Levasseur, Emile, 49, 70, 73, 76, 77, 
184, 211, 239, 289, 294, 300, 319, 
322, 324, 330, 341, 346, 347, 361, 
392, 401, 403, 404, 405, 406, 446, 
476 

Levi, L. 404 

Lichtenstein, J. M. 95 

Little, W. C. 221 

Lommatzch, G. 8, 93, 459 

Longstaff, Geo. B. 45, 63, 65, 211, 217, 

243, 369, 476 
Losch 8, 185 
Loua 246 
Low, S. J. 397 
Lowe, James 44, 418 
Lunt, E. C. 477 

Mackenzie, J. S. 2, 434, 436, 456 
Maine, Sir Henry 169, 170 
Malchus 477 

Maltbie, M. R. 215, 219, 435 
Manouvrier 394 
Marshall, Alfred 184, 203, 207, 208, 341, 

387, 395, 396, 413,44s- 457, 458 
Marx, Karl 176, 184, 195, 196 
Mataja, Victor 184 
Mayo-Smith, Richmond 5, 299, 300, 

305, 319, 360, 365 
Mayr, Georg von 19, 260, 267, 295, 300, 

302, 347, 393, 401, 402, 478 
Meuriot, Paul 76, 449, 467, 476, 477 
Mill, J. S. 184 
Minutoli 120 
Moore, H. E. 211 
Morselli 401, 402, 403 
Mulhall, M. G. 167 
Neison, F. G. P. 347 
Neumann, F. J. 295 
Neumann-Spallart 97, 182 
Newsholme, A. 342, 349, 352, 365 
Nordau, M. 368-9 
Oettingen, A. von 384, 402 
Ogle, Dr. W. 45, 47, 188, 211, 303, 320, 

359, 365, 444 
Oldberg, E. von 107 
Palgrave, R. I. 63, 211, 217, 476 
Patten, S. N, 227, 436 
Pearson, Charles 222, 439, 441, 476 
Petty, Sir William 235, 452, 453 
Philippovich, E. von 88 
Pliny 394 
Plutarch 454 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



481 



Pohlmann, R. 454 

Porter 404 

Porter, R. P. 472 

Pratt 370 

Preston-Thomas 214 

Prothero, R. E. 164, 165, 166 

Quesnay 230 

Radcliffe 347 

Ralph, ] ulian 220 

Ratzel 2, 169, 183 

Rauchberg, H. 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 253, 

260, 261, 267, 274, 277, 278, 279, 

291, 292, 302, 316, 323, 327, 372, 

378, 380, 392, 458, 476 
Ravenstein, 255, 257, 258, 259, 265, 266, 

267, 274, 277 
Rawson, Sir Rawson W. 49, 243 
Reden, Fr. Fred W. 83 
Ripley, W. Z. 169, 393, 442, 443 
Rogers, Thorold 44, 170 
Roscher, Wm. 169, 197, 432, 454, 455, 

477 
Ross, Edward A. 197 
Rousseau, J. J. 368 
Rubin, M. 325, 333, 341, 358, 387 
Rumelin, Gustav 15, 439 
Salmon, Lucy 220 
Sax, E. 169 
Schaffle, Albert 185 
Schenk, Leopold 295 
SchmoUer, Gustav, 169, 170, 175, 176, 

179, 180, 181, 184, 185, 187, 194 
Schnitzler 107 
Schonberg, G. 477 
Schonhof, Jacob 184 
Schulze-Gavernitz 184, 203, 209 
Schumann, 253, 267 
Schwabe, H. 82, 200, 384 
Sedlaczek 240 
Seeley, J. R. 180 
Seligman, E. R. A. 428 
Sering, Max 168, 216, 422 
Seutemann, 295 
Shaw, Albert 219, 437 
Silbergleit 295, 362 
Simmel, Georg 184 
Sinzheimer, L. 185 



Smith, Adam 176, 184, 418 

Smith, H. Llewellyn 257, 258, 273, 275, 

276, 382, 383. 389* 390 
Sohnrey, H. 216 

Spencer, Herbert 158, 169, 184, 185 
Sprmger, J. 95 
Stephens, H. C. 215, 456 
Steuart, Sir James 169, 424, 425^ 
Stickney, A. B. 199 
Stieda, W. 184 
Storch, H. 107 
Strahan 370 
Strong, Josiah 477 
Siissmilch, J. 7, 330, 355, 444 
Supan, Alexander 7, 10, 11, 18, 58, 66, 
115, 116, 120, 121, 122, 128, 129, 

133. 135. 136, 137. 139, 477 
Suydam, W. L. 421 
Tallqvist 341 
Thompson 295 
Thuroczy 356 
Tocqueville, A. de 431 
Toynbee, Arnold 45, 166, 21 7 
Tucker, Geo. iii, 40 
Turquan 346 
Vaughan, Robt. 476 
Wagner, A. 402, 477 
Walker, Francis A. 184, 419 
Walford, C. 297 
Wappaeus, J. E. 7, 294, 331, 335, 34 1, 

387. 477 
Weeden, W. B. 184 
Wells, David A. 184 
Welton, Thomas A. 365 
Wernicke, J, 234 
Westergaard, H. 325, 341, 387 
Willcox, W. F. 4, 173, 213, 251, 279, 

288, 296, 307, 308, 312, 330 
Williams, R. Price 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 

464, 465 
Wirminghaus, A. 211, 249, 476, 477 
Wirth, M. 117 
Worcester, J. E. 477 
Wright, C. D. 184, 330, 459 
Young, Arthur 45, 165 
Ziegler 343 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Abyssinia, concentration of population 

137 

Accidents, fatal 296-7 

Administration, centralization of, and 
city growth 215; public, in x\merica 
428-9; decentralization of 456-7 

Advertising, expenditures for 195 

Age of migrants 280-2, 284; distribu- 
tion in urban and rural districts 
300-4; distribution, curves of 300; 
at marriage 322, 325 

Agglomeration in France and Italy 9; 
in final classification 16 

Agricultural implements, American 168 

Agriculture and the distribution of pop- 
ulation 160-9; the mother-industry 
1 61-2; application of science to 
162; machinery in 162; progress 
in, since 1750, 164-8; influence of 
transportation upon 197; depres- 
sion of 210; favors dispersion of 
population 223; in city and country 
315, 317; and the birth rates 339- 
42; stimulated by city markets 418 

Air, compressed, for reducing tempera- 
ture 458 

Alexandria, population 448 

Algiers, concentration of population 137 

Allotments, small, and emigration 216; 
as a remedy for concentration 455 

American and European cities, compar- 
ative rates of growth 450 

Americans, superior mobility 250; post- 
ponement of marriage 326; see also 
United States. 

Amusements in city and country 218 

Antiquity, city walls in 5-6; great cities 
in 448-9 

Antwerp, population 1802-1890, 116 

Apprentices 438 

Argentina, city growth 134, 135 

Aristocracy, intellectual, continuation of 
386-9, 44=; 

Arithmetic, Political 231 



Armies, disbanding 217; country-bred 
recruits 369-70, 394-5; effect of 
city growth upon 425-6 

Art in cities, 218, 224; city vs. country- 
born, in 374-6 

Artisans in city and country 316-7; city 
vs. country -born 378-80; birth rates 
among 387; in intellectual aristoc- 
racy 388; from the country 390 

Association of people, effects of, intel- 
lectual in cities 220 

Athenian's city and country residence 

175 

Athens, modem 120; ancient 448 

Athletics prosper in cities 445 

Atmosphere in cities 348, 368 

Australia, 1891, compared with United 
States 1790, I; mode of life of na- 
tives 3; city growth in 138-142; 
city growth and physical features 
149; land systems 217; suburban 
growth 472 

Austria, city growth 94-100, esp. 95; 
natural increase and immigration in 
cities 246; internal migration 249— 
253 ; statistics of birth-place 260-1 ; 
sex in migration, 277-8, 291 ; ratio 
of the sexes 292; age-grouping 302; 
conjugal condition, 323, 327; mor- 
tality 356. See also Vienna. 

Averages, difficulty with 410; fallacy of 

444 
Ayuniamettto, average area of, in Spain 

142 
Babylon 6, 448 

Bachelors, preponderance in cities, 322-7 
Bagdad, population 122, 123, 449 
Baker's industry centralized 196 
Baltimore, population 21, 450 ; density 

of population, 468 
Baptisms, ratio of, to burials 234 
Baths, public 353 

Bavaria, growth of cities 93, 94; mobil- 
ity of urban and rural populations 



(483) 



484 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



262; natural increase in cities 385; 
insane, feeble-minded, blind, deaf 
and dumb 393 

Belfast, growth 65, 66, 67 

Belgium, city growth 115- 116; a manu- 
facturing country 18 1-2; internal 
migration 249-252 

Belgrade, population 1800-90, 121 

Berlin, density of population 4; popula- 
tion 1819-1890,84; relative growth 
86,91; area 139; migration 233-4; 
excess of births over deaths 236; 
manner of growth 239, 240; age 
of immigrants 281 ; length of resi- 
dence of immigrants 282-3; mar- 
riage among natives and immigrants 
328-9; overcrowding and mortality 
349 ; occupation and social rank of 
immigrants 373-8, 391 ; prostitution 
among natives and immigrants 384; 
Greater, population 453, 466; 
growth of population by districts 
465-6; density of population 468 

Bevolkerungsstrom, Hansen's theory of, 
388-9 

Bills of mortality, in sixteenth century 
231 

Birmingham, immigration vs. natural 
increase 239; density of population 
468 

Birth-place, statistics of 247-276 

Birth rates of urban and rural popula- 
tions 330-43; of social classes, 
Copenhagen 387 

Births in urban and rural France 69; 
relation of to deaths 231-246; in 
London 232, 235 ; in German cities 
234, 236, 237, 245; in Sweden, 
237-8; in modern cities 239; in 
Massachusetts cities 241-2; in 
French cities 245; influenced by 
migration 235-6; sex at 294; ex- 
cess of, over deaths in Bavarian 
cities 385 

Blindness in city and country 392-3 

Bolivia, concentration of population, 136 

Bombay, growth 126, 127, 450 

Bonds, ownership of French government 
427 

Bornu (Soudan) concentration of popu- 
lation 137 

Bosnia, cities 121 

Boston, population in 1800,21; growth 
37-39; incorporation of suburbs 
241; manner of growth 241; char- 
acter of immigrants to 265; ratio 



of the sexes 286; excess of women 
289; natural movement of popula- 
tion 318; marriage rates 321; con- 
jugal condition 324; Greater, pop- 
ulation of 453-4; congested wards 
459; density of population 468; 
suburban travel 470, 472 
Brachycephalic race 441-2 
Brandenburg, density of population 4 
Brazil, distribution of population 133-4 
Brescia, township and community 17-18 
Breslau, mortality 235; manner of 

growth 239 
Brookline, local text-book prepared by 

430 
Brussels, population Ii6, 450 
Bucharest, growth 122 
Budapest, population loi, 450 
Buenos Aires, growth 134-135, 450; 

natural advantages 149 
Building laws in New York, London, etc. 

351.414 
Building trades, city vs. country-born in 

374-81, 390 
Bulgaria, cities 121 
Burials, relation of, to christenings 232- 

3-4 

Business firms in cities 369-70, 387 

Cahiers respecting scarcity of farm labor 
231 

Cairo 449 

Calcutta, growth 126-128, 450 

Canada, city growth 130-132 

Canals, era of, in the United States 23- 
25; inadequacy of 184 

Cape Colony, concentration of popula- 
tion 137 

Capital, beginnings of era of, 186; ad- 
vantages of concentration of 194-6; 
an aid to cities 457-8 

Carthage, population 448, 452 

Castles as nuclei of towns 174 

Catholics and divorce in cities 330; 
strength of, in cities 400-1 

Census, Austrian, of 1890, a model, 94 

Centralization among cities 446-8; in 
administration 215, 456-7 

Cereal production in the United States 26 

Charity in cities 436 

Charleston, population in 1800, 21 

Charters of freedom bought by cities 178 

C/tefs lieux, in France 72-74 

Chest measurement in city and country 

394 
Chicago as a centre of newly-occupied 
territory 20; area of 139; vs. New 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



485 



York, future growth 174; and New 

York, freight rates between 204; 

ratio of the sexes 286; growth 450; 

density 468; suburban travel 470 
Children in cities 368-9, 396, 474 
Chile, city growth 135 
China, estimated population 129; urban 

population 129; lack of trustworthy 

data 45 1 
Christenings, relation of, to burials 232- 

3-4 
Christiania, population 1801-91, in 
Churches in city and country 400-1 
Cities, power of attraction of great 259- 
60; ancient, population of, 448-9; 
number in Europe in modern times 
449-50; population of fifty princi- 
pal cities of the world 450; limits 
upon the growth 05451-3 
Citizen, significance of the word 3, 6 
"City-building," process of 467 
City-growth vs. concentration of popu- 
lation 155-157 
City life, advantages of 218-221 
City-location, principle of 172 
City-state of antiquity 6; Aristotle's 

ideal 428 
Civilization, identified with city 6; and 

the birth-rate 338-41 
Classes, antagonism of, in cities 427 
Classification of dwelling centres, ancient 
5-6; mediaeval 6-8; modern 8-16 
Clerks, from the country 371, 390; birth- 
rates 387; advertisements for coun- 
try boys 421 
Clothing, ready-made, and the factory 

system 195 
Clothing trade, leading industry of New 

York City 206-7 
Cockney, London 369 
Cohesiveness lacking in city populations 

432-3 

Colbert 230 

Colbertism 180 

Colombia, concentration of population 
136 

Colonization of city poor 455-6 

Commerce, expansion of, in England 55 ; 
place of, in industrial evolution 
159, 169-184; between town and 
country 176; in middle ages 177; 
affected by Crusades 179; between 
towns 179; of Holland 181; bio- 
logical analogy to growth of 183; 
and distribution of population 223 ; 
in city and country 315, 317? ^^*i 



the birth rate 341-2; city vs. coun- 
try born in 373-81 

Commons, enclosure of, in England 165 

Commune, average area of, in France, 
Switzerland, Belgium 142 

Communication, means of, as affecting 
the food-supply 3 

Commuters, number of 470 

Competition presupposed in normal dis- 
tribution 419; and wages 419 

Concentration of population and growth 
of cities, distinction between 155-7 

Condition, conjugal, in city and country 
322-30 

Congestion, relief of, in Philadelphia and 
Boston 459; New York city 460-2; 
London 462-5; Berlin 465-6; Vi- 
enna 467; Hamburg 467 

Conservatism of rural populations 439- 

40, 443 
Constantinople, population of 120, 449- 

50, 452 
Consumption, local, and city industries 

206-7; ^"^^ future city growth 227 
Co-operation, political, required in cities 

433-5 
Copenhagen, growth 112-3,450; early 

marriages in 325; fecundity of wo- 
men 333; death-rates by ages 358; 
birth-rates in social classes 387 
Costa Rica, concentration of population 

136 
Cottage industries 195; outlook for 196; 

in England and the United States 

206 
Cotton industry in England 52; France 

Country-born, residence quarters of, m 
cities 370-2; in city occupations 
370, 373-82, 390; among degener- 
ates 370, 383-4, 392-4; in the up- 
ward current 389; intelligence of 

397-9 ^ .^ 

Countryman contrasted with townsman 3 

Cowboys as soldiers, 397 

Crime, city vs. country-born in 384 ; in 
town and country 403-9 ; localized 
in cities 408; in cities, explanation 

of 443 
Crisis of 1873, and urban growth 27; 

1877, and urban growth 89 
Crusades aid the towns 178; promote 

commerce 179 
Cuba, concentration of population 136 
Cuhur and city growth 441 
Current, downward, of failures 443 



486 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Damascus, population of 122, 123, 449 

Danes, founders of towns in England 
171 

Day, need of a shorter working 474 

Deafmutism in city and country 392-3 

Death rates, limitations upon value of 
359; in exceptional wards, 444 

Deaths, in urban and rural France 69; 
relation of, to births 231-46; in 
London 232, 235, 236; German 
cities, 234, 236, 237, 245; Sweden 
237-8; modern cities 239; Massa- 
chusetts cities 241-2; French cities 
241;; influence of emigration upon 
235-6; violent 296-7; in city and 
country 343-68 

Deer forests 217 

Degenerates, downward current of 389; 
rural 407 

Degeneration, the city and 368-9, 
388-9, 392-5 ; in cities and counter 
forces 457-8 

Denmark, city growth in 112-114; in- 
ternal migration 249-253; fecun- 
dity of women 333; death-rates by 
ages 358 

Density of population dependent upon 
natural conditions 2; value of the 
term 4-5; relation to concentra- 
tion 146; in principal countries 
147; and the birth rate 338-40; 
death rate 344-6, 350; in New 
York wards, 460; central area of 
London, decrease of 463-5 ; Berlin 
466-7; Vienna, 467; of American 
and European cities compared 
467-8; and street railways 469; of 
Sydney 472 

Depopulation, rural, in England 45; 
France 69; Germany 89; United 
States 210-2; causes of 213, 423 

Deterioration of physique in cities 434; 
not a result of city life 444-5 

Differentiation performed by cities 442 

Diseases, nervous and the birth rate 

338-40 

Distance between houses in England 9 ; 
the chief factor in migration 255- 
271 

Distribution of population, influence of 
nature upon 2; social environment 
3; statistical methods for determin- 
ing 4; distinction between and 
growth of cities 19 

Distribution of wealth, process of 418-9 

Division of labor, beginnings of 161, 



170, 174, 175; in Greece, 175; 
Rome 175; importance of 193, 
195; theory of 194; evolution of 
197; and migration 261; promotes 
production 417 
Divorce more frequent in cities 325, 

329-30 
Dclicocephalic race 441-2 
Domestic system 186-7; dangers of 
195; and electric motors 196; edu- 
cation under the 438; prospect for 
revival of 456 
Dorfzxid township 10 
Drunkards, methods of treatment of 436 
Drunkenness in England 404 
Dublin, growth of 65, 66, 67, 450 
Economy, household or village 170, 
185; town 170, 176, 186; national 
170, 177-180; international 170, 
181 
Ecuador, concentration of populat'n 136 
Education, advantages in cities 218; 
popular attacked 222; in town and 
country 397-9; transformation in 
methods of 437-8 
Egbatana 448 

Egypt, concentration of population 137 
Election of 1896, vote of farmers in 427 
Electric motors and cottage industries 
196, 456; power and distribution 
of population 192; the factory sys- 
tem 196 
Elizabeth, proclamation forbidding mi- 
gration to London 231 
Emigration from Ireland 64, 152; Ger- 
many 89, 152; Norway and Sweden 
152; England and Wales 152; 
great cities 274; effect of upon 
ratio of the sexes 290-1 ; rural, 
causes of 423; advantages of 424. 
See also Migration. 
Employees, in city and country 316-7 
Employers, in city and country 316-7; 
city vs. country born 375-80, 391; 
birth-rate among 387; in intellect- 
ual aristocracy 388 
Enclosure Acts 165, 217 
Energy, physical and moral 396 
England, definition of city 13; statistics 
of city growth 40-57, esp. 46; the 
typical industrial nation 41 ; classi- 
fication of urban centres 41-2; 
urban and rural sanitary districts 
42; rural depopulation 45-7; in- 
dustrial history 51-6; immigrants 
to the United States from 152; and 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



487 



the food supply 164; agricultural 
improvements 164-7; agricultural 
population 166; end of feudalism 
178; national unity 178; Black 
Plague 178-179; natural increase 
in cities 243-4; internal migration 
249-53; mortality in town and 
country 345, 347, 355; deaths by 
sex and age, 358-9; crime 404; 
increase in wealth and power 
425-6; rapid growth of the suburbs 
446-7; density and acreage of 
cities 468. See also London. 

Englishmen, mobility of 250 

Entrepreneur, appearance of the 178; 
city vs. country born 375-80, 391, 
See also Employer. 

Environment, physical and population 
2, 5; in Uruguay 148; Argentina 
149; India 149-150; Australia 149 

Erie canal and New York city 25 

Essex contains London suburbs 447 

Evolution of industrial society 158-160; 
bibliography of 169; periods of 
1 70; stages in 185 

Excitement in cities 368 

Factories, advantageous location of 
197-209; movement of toward 
suburbs 8, 202, 203, 224, 228, 473 

Factory system, in England 53; France 
78; Germany 88; Russia 105; be- 
ginnings of 188, 192-3; ancient 
Egypt 193; advantages of 193-6/ 
and distribution of population 196; 
education under 438 

Factory towns and the marriage rate 
321; birth rate 337-8; 341-2 

Fairs develop out of weekly town 
market 179 

Families, city, extinction of 370, 386-9; 

445 
Family life in city and country 322-30; 

size of families 336-7; life in Paris 

405 
Famine in Austria 96; Hungary 102; 

and distribution of population 169 
Farm labor, scarcity of 422-4; wages of 

422 
Farmers, isolation of 221 ; the radical 

party in 1896, 427 
Farms, increase of in the United States 

26; plans to make more attractive 

455 
Fashion dominates city dwellers 432 
Fecundity of women 330-43 
Fees for settlement 455 



Fertilizers and the law of diminishing 
returns 225 

Flanders, seat of the woollen trade 179 

Florence, influence of 6 

Food in cities 368 

Fords, sites of cities 172 

Forecast concerning city growth 225-9 

Foreigners, female, in American cities 
279-80; concentration of in cities 
304-9 ; percentage of in cities 306 : 
conjugal condition 326; birth-rates 
among 334; size of family 337; 
tendency of to herd together 430 

Forts as nuclei of towns 174 

France, agglomerated population 9; 
definition of cities 14; urban growth 
67-80; rural depopulation 68, 69; 
natural increase 1881-91, 69; in- 
ternal migration 1881-91, 69; in- 
dustrial development 76-80; agri- 
cultural progress 167; national 
unity 180; railway policy 200; 
natural increase vs. immigration in 
cities 245 ; internal migration 249- 
252; sex at birth, 294; marriage- 
rate 319; conjugal condition 324; 
divorces 330; size of families 336; 
death-rates, 345; crime 404; ille- 
gitimacy 405, See also Paris. 

Frankfort, excess of births over deaths 
237; military rolls 269; birth-place 
of immigrants 271; return of mi- 
grants to native places 272; urban 
and rural origin of immigrants 273; 
sex of immigrants 278; age of im- 
migrants 280; sex and age of immi- 
grants 293; sex at birth 294; deaths 
in the sexes 298; mortality among 
natives and immigrants 366; resi- 
dence of natives and immigrants 
372-3; occupation of natives and 
immigrants 381 ; pauperism of na- 
tives and immigrants 383 

Functions, municipal 353-5 

Garrisons in cities 457 

Geme'ente, average area of, in Holland 
142 

Gemeinde, average area of, in Hungary, 
Austria, Germany, Prussia 142 

Genius, in citv and country 439, 442 

Genoa, influence of 6 

Germany, classification of dwelling-cen- 
tres 15; city growth 80-94; indus- 
trial development 87-9; immigrants 
to the United States 152; railways 
and cities 200; freedom of move- 



488 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



merit 214-5; natural increase vs. 
immigration in cities of 245 ; cause 
of migration 255-7; excess of wo- 
men in cities 286, 290; excess of 
girls in cities 293; age-grouping in 
cities 301 ; occupations in cities 315 

Ghent, population of, 1802-1890, 116 

Glasgow, growth 59, 60, 450 

Government, officials in a city 428; com- 
plexity of municipal 428-9; corrup- 
tion in city, in U. S. 429; excellence 
of local, in U. S. 429; difficulties of 
city, in U. S. 429-30; city, in 1830 

431 

Grain-trade in the United States 168 

Greece, city-growth 120; cities of ancient 
6,448 

Gregariousness 221 

Guatemala, concentration of population 
136 

Guiana, British, concentration of popu- 
lation 136 

Guild system, education under 438 

Hamburg, continuance of mercantile 
firms 386; growth 450; density of 
population 468 

Handicraft system of production 186; 
and decline of villages 196; educa- 
tion under 438 

Handicraftsman, development of the 
mediaeval 176 

Hanseatic towns, influence of 6 

Health in city and country 368-409 

Heat, future method of distributing 458 

Heathen or countrymen 3 

Hebrews, sanitary regulations and health 
of 350-1 

Herzogowina, cities of 121 

Holland, city growth 1 14-5 ; a commer- 
cial country 181-2; internal migra- 
tion 249-252 

Home rule for cities, basis of 430 

Homes, suburban, need of associations 
for building 474 

Honduras, concentration of population 
136 

Hospital gratuities in cities 457 

Household economy 170 

Housekeeping in city and country 219 

Housing of the working-classes 35 1-3 

Humanitarianism, the new era of 434-5, 
440-1 

Hungary, definition of cities 8; city 
growth 100-4; manner of growth 
of cities 246; age-grouping 301 

Idiocy in city and country 392-3 



Illegitimacy and ratio of sexes at birth 
294-5; in Prussian towns 332; in 
Saxon towns 333 ; in city and coun- 
try 335-6; and infant mortality 
362-3; in Paris 405; in cities 405-6 

Illinois, urban population of, in 1890, 28; 
percentage of urban population 31 

Illiteracy in town and country 397-8 

Immigrants to cities, residence of 370-2; 
occupation 373-81, 390; social rank 
377-81 ; efficiency of 389-92. Im- 
migrants to the United States, see 
Foreigners. 

Immigration, ratio of, to natural growth 
of modern cities, 239-246; effects 
upon community life 443-4. See 
also Migration. 

Improvements, public, in cities 457 

Income, in town and country 41 1; 
Engel's law of expenditure of 413 

Increase, natural, vs. immigration 230- 
246; in cities 283; (Bavaria) 385 

India, British, city growth 123-128; in- 
dustrial organization 123; popula- 
tion of provinces 124; definition of 
town 124 

Indiana, composition of urban popula- 
tion 30; percentage of urban popu- 
lation 32 

Indians, conditions of residence of 3 

Individualism 432, 434, 436 

Industrialism 432-4 

Industries, groups of 223; effect of 
various on distribution of population 
223-5; of city and country 314-5; 
city vs. country-born in 374-81, 391 

Infanticide 406 

Infantile mortality. See Mortality. 

Infirmities, physical 392-3 

Insanity in city and country 392-3, 443 

Intelligence of city people 369; of city 
and country people 397-9 

Invention, " heroic " theory of 184; and 
city life 457 

Iowa, density and concentration of pop- 
ulation 4; percentage of urban 
population 32; railway discrimina- 
tions 199-200 

Ireland, growth of cities 64-67; potato 
famine 64; emigrants to the United 
States 152; internal migration 252 

Iron industry in England 54-56; Scot- 
land 61; France 78 

Italy, agglomerated population 9; urban 
and rural population II ; city 
growth 1 1 7-9 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



489 



Jamaica, concentration of population 

136 
James I., proclamation forbidding mi- 
gration into London 231 
Janitors, from the country 371, 391 
Japan, distribution of population 129- 

130 
Kansas, so-called cities 12; percentage 

of urban population 32 
Kleinstddtisch, a term of reproach 3 
Klondike, wealth taken in and out 420 
Labor-supply in large cities and small 
towns 205-206; a factor in de- 
termining location of factories 207; 
of both sexes influences in location 
of factories 208; scarcity of in 
rural districts, an ancient complaint 
230; casual, in city and country 
315-7; irregularity of in country 

JLaissez faire, policy of 434-5 

Lancashire, growth 53; compared with 
Glasgow 61 

iand, unoccupied, on the globe 226; 
tenure, effect of different forms on 
city growth 215-7; owners of, as a 
distinct class 388,427; ownership 
of, a conservative force 426; and 
city growth 426 

Xegislation affecting the distribution of 
population 214-8 

Leipzig, excess of births over deaths 
237, 239, 240 

Levasseur's law of large city growth 
49-50; in United States 34-36; 
England 48-5 1 ; Scotland 64; Ire- 
land 65; France 70-77; Germany 
89; Austria 99-100; Hungary 103, 
104; Russia, 109; Norway 112; 
Belgium 116; Australia 142; sus- 
tained 446-8 

Liberalism engendered in cities 432, 

439 
Life, expectation of, in city and country 

346-7 
Limitations upon size of a city 452-3 
Liquors 404, 407 
Liverpool, explanation of decline of 

population 51; population 450 

density 468 
Living, cost of, in city and country, 

412-3 
Location of cities, principles of 172 
Locks in America and Germany 443 
liondon, population in 1801, 44; 1801- 

1891, 46; proportion to population 



of England 1801-91, 47; propor- 
tionate growth 1 80 1-7 1, 49; 1881- 
91, 50; commercial development 
56; area 139; commercial centre 
of the world 181; centralization of 
baker's trade 196; future growth 
229; royal proclamations designed 
to check its growth 231; immigra- 
tion to, in 1580 and 1650 compared 
with 1 87 1-8 1, 232; rate of growth 
in 17th century 232-3; excess of 
births over deaths 236, 243; manner 
of growth 239, 240, 243-4; origin 
of immigrants 257-8; mobility of 
natives 274; direction of emigra- 
tion 275-6; sex of emigrants 277; 
mortality and overcrowding 349; 
death-rates by sex and ages 358-9; 
distribution of countrymen 371; 
crime 404; rapid growth of suburbs 
446-7; rank 449-50; limit to 
growth 452-3; population of met- 
ropolitan district 453; extension of 
prohibited by law 454; relief of 
congested districts 462-5; popula- 
tion by districts in 1 89 1, 463; City, 
population since 1801, 464; density 
468 

Louisiana, stationary urban percentages 
20; percentage of urban population 
32 

Luxury in cities 368 

Lyons, now a commercial centre 473 

Machine industry, relation to concen- 
tration of population 148, 152, 158 

Machinery and the factory system 195 

Madras, growth 1 26, 1 28, 450 

Manchester, population 450; density of 
population 468; removal of factories 

473 

Manila, population 1887, 128 

Manner of city growth 283 

Manufacturing industry, in the country 
8; United States 25, 27; and con- 
centration of population 148, 224; 
consolidation of processes in 191; 
industries, influence of transporta- 
tion on 197-8; facilities of produc- 
tion in 197-208; in the United 
States, centralization of 201; de- 
centralizing tendencies 202-4; 
enterprises peculiar to cities 206; 
in city and country 315, 317; and 
the birth-rate 339-42 

Marriage, influence on migration 278, 
284; rates of in city and country 



r 



490 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



3 1 9-30 ; among self-supporting 
women 320-1; age at 322; among 
city-born and immigrants 328-9 

Massachusetts, urban population in 
1880, p 27; 1890, 28; distribution 
of population 36-8; growth of 
cities 37; percentage of urban pop- 
ulation 31 ; birth places of inhabi- 
tants 266; natural movement of 
population 318-9; marriage rates 
320-2; conjugal condition 324; 
fecundity of women 334; infant 
mortality 334 

Materialism engendered in cities 433; 
and industrialism 434-5; giving 
way to humanitarianism 440 

Mediaeval cities, influence of 6 

Melbourne, population 138, 450; area 

139 

Memphis, ancient 6, 448 

Mercantile system 1 78-181, 214 

Methods of measuring association 4 

Mexico, city growth 132, 133 

Middlesex, rapid growth 447 

Migrants, sex of 276-280, 284; age of 
280-2, 284; length of residence of 
282-3, 284 

Migration cityward in sixteenth century 
222; in middle ages 230 et seq ; in 
France 230-1; England 231 ; Ger- 
many 231; not new 283; a short- 
distance movement 283; effect on 
marriage 325, 328-9; birth-rate 
342-3; death-rate 365-6; harmful 
tendencies of 382; function of in 
evolution 388 ; and municipal gov- 
ernment 429-30; effects of, on 
villages 437-9 

Migration, freedom of, and city growth 
214; internal and urban growth, 
ch. iv, 230-285; effect upon birth 
and death-rates 235-6, 239, 247; 
volume of 248 ; range of, in leading 
countries 249-253; increase of in 
Europe 251-254; laws of 255-263; 
chiefly for short distances 255, 268, 
270; by stages 257, 258, 267, 270- 
I; induced by large cities 257; of 
rural and urban populations 260—3 

Military considerations in city location 
174; concentrated in cities 457 

Milk, sterilized, and infant mortality 

354, 361 
Mining favors dispersion of population 
223; and the birth-rate 342; camps, 
average income small in 420 



Mir 170 

Mississippi, density and concentration 
of population 4; stationary urban 
percentages 20; percentage of 
urban population 32 

Mississippi Valley, settlement 25 

Missouri, density and concentration 4; 
urban population 28-9, 30, 31 

Mobility 249-25 1 ; of rural and urban 
populations 260-5, 272; great city 
populations 273-4, 283; in industry 
and society 388 

Monasteries as nuclei of towns 174 

Money, introduction of 186 

Montivideo, natural advantages 148 

Morality in city and country 399-409 

Mortality, in city and country 343-68; 
cities, causes of, 348-50; preventive 
measures against 351-4; reduction 
of in cities 355-65; according to 
occupation 360; infantile, in city 
and country, Prussia 295-6, 363- 
4; Mass. 334 

Mortality infantile, in Peabody buildings 
352; New York 354; Austria and 
Vienna 356; increases urban mor- 
tality 360; cause of 361 ; reduction 
of in European cities 362; Bavaria 
362; remedies for 361; period of 
highest 363-4; relation to birth-rate 
365; to death-rate 365 

Moscow, factory industries 105; popu- 
lation 450 

Motive power, future distribution of 458 

Motives of migrants to the cities 213-222 

Music in cities 218, 224 

Natal, concentration of population 137 

National economy 170 

Nationalities, inclination for city life 
308-9 

Negroes, concentration of female, in 
cities 279-80; infantile mortality 
among 296; migration of to cities 
310-4; mortality of 313-4; in 
factories 313; conjugal condition 
326; in New York and Philadel- 
phia in 1830, 431 

Neighborliness, lack of, in cities 432-6 

Netherlands. See Holland. 

New England, manufactures 25; births 
and deaths 242, 318, 344 

Newfoundland, concentration of popu- 
lation 136 

New Hampshire, density of population 
4; percentage of urban population 
31 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



491 



New Jersey, urban population 29, 30, 31 

New South Wales. See Australia. 

Newspapers, city and country 398-9 

New York, definition of cities 13; urban 
population 28, 30, 31 

New York City, population 21, 450; 
and the Erie canal 25; area 139; 
vs. Chicago, future growth 174; 
and Chicago, freight rates between 
204; leading industries 207; ratio 
of the sexes 286; metropolitan dis- 
trict, mortality 346; healthfulness 
of Tenth Ward 349-50 ; reduction 
of death-rate 356; growth of 
metropolitan 447, 450, 453; con- 
gested districts 459; decrease of 
density by wards 460-2; density 
468; suburban travel 470 

New Zealand. See Australia 

Nicaragua, concentration of population 
136 

Nineveh 6, 448 

North Dakota, so-called "cities" 12; 
percentage of urban population 32 

Norway, definition of cities 7; city 
growth 1 1 1-2; emigrants to the 
United States, 152 

Nourishment of urban and rural dwell- 
ers 366 

Nuptialite. See Marriage 

Occupation statistics 228 9; of city peo- 
ple 296 8; and country people 
314-7; and the birth-rate 341-2; 
death-rate 359-60; city and country 
born 373-81, 391 ; and suicide 403 

Ocean, as a food-producer 227 

Octroi, levied by cities 7 

Ohio, urban population 28, 31 

Oldenburg, migration 261, 272; deaths 
by ages 297 

Opinion, public, in cities 433 

Opportunity, the characteristic of city 
life 443 

Orange Free State, concentration of 
population 137 

Organism, industrial society likened to 
an 159, 183 

Overcrowding in principal cities 349, , 
416; relation to income 413; statis- 
tics of 415-7 

Pagan, signified countrymen 3, 440, 443 

Paraguav, concentration of population 

136' , . i 

Paris, percentage increase of population 
1801 to 1881, 7c; population 73, I 
74; relative growth 76; area 139; I 



the centre of a great plain 172; 

excess of births over deaths 236; 

manner of growth 239, 240, 246; 

surplus of women 289; sex at birth 

294; illegitimacy 405; rank 449- 

50; Gi eater, population 453; 

growth of, prohibited by law 454; 

density 468 
Parish in Louisiana 16 
Parks, provision of 353 
Pauperism, city vs. country born in 

383-4 
Peasantry, fitness for army service 369— 
70, 425; and cit}' slums 372, 383; 
the reservoir of \'igor 388, 394 
Pennsylvania, urban population 28, 31 
Persia, distribution of population 123 
Peru, concentration of population 136 
Philadelphia, population 21, 450; out- 
grown by New York 25; area 139; 
ratio of the sexes 286; congested 
wards 459; density 468; streetcar 
systems 469; suburban traffic 470 
Philanthropy in cities 436-7 
Philippine Islands, distribution of popu- 
lation 128 
Philistine, peculiar to small cities 440 
Physical environment, effect of, upon 

distribution of population 2, 5 
Physiocrats 230 
Piers, recreation 353 
Plague, visitation of, in former centimes 

233 

Play-grounds, necessity of 354 

Poland's factory industries 105 ; density 
of population 106 

Policemen, city vs. country bom 382, 390 

Politics, significance of the word 3, 6; 
and location of cities 172, 174 

Population, natural movement of ch. vi, 
318-67; law of 319, 326, 337-341; 
Spencer's theor}' of 388; argricul- 
tural, produces a surplus 424; agri- 
cultural, full of error 440 ; two 
modes of increase of 443-4 

Portugal, city growth 120 

Poverty and mortality 349-50 

Power, military, increased by concentra- 
tion of population 425 

Precinct in Texas 17 

Primitive man, mode of residence 3 

Proclamation, Fast Day, of Governor of 
New Hampshire 438; against the 
growth of T.ondon 454—5 "i 

Production on a large scale, advantages 
of 193-6 



492 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Professional men, city born vs. country 
born 373-6; birth-rates among 
387; in intellectual aristocracy 388 
Professions in city and country 315 
Progress, penalty for, paid by cities 443 
Proletariat, the urban 372-83, 388-9 
Property holders diminish in cities 426-7 
Prostitution, city vs. country born in 

384; in cities 406 
Protectionism 181, 214, 369 
Prussia, definition of cities 8; city 
growth 80-83, 92; internal migra- 
tion 249-253; sex at birth 294; 
infant mortality 295; age-grouping 
303; birth-rates, 331-2; death 
rates 344; deaths by ages 356-7; 
incomes 41 1 ; wages 412 
Queensland. See Australia 
Race, in city and country 304-14; and 
the birth-rate 334, 343; and suicide 

.4°3 
Radicalism engendered in cities 432, 

439 

Railway discriminations 2,Z 

Railways and cities in the United States 
25, 172; England 55-56; France 
79-80; Germany 87; Austria 97- 
loo; as a cause of concentration of 
population 152; and village trade 
1 89-90; relation to manufacturing 
sites 198-9; under the competitive 
regime 199; and cities in Germany 
200-1 ; tending to favor the small 
factory town 203-4; a single uni- 
form rate on 204; effect of, upon 
migration 259; function of street 474 

Rank, social and industrial 3x6-7 

Recruits for the army, city vs. country 
born 382 

Religion, place of, in industrial evolu- 
tion 159, 171; in city and country 

! 399-401; state of, in villages 438 

Remedies for concentration of popula- 
tion 454-75; the four commend- 
able 474 

Rent, consumers, in cities 219, 412-3; 

' house, problem of 413-5 

Residence, length of, of outsiders in 
cities, 282-3, 284 

Retail trade, evolution of 190 

Returns, law of diminishing discussed 
225-7; constant 228 

Revolution, agrarian 164-167 

Revolutionary movements in cities 7 

Rides, number of, in street cars, in 
various cities 469 



Rio de Janeiro, growth 134, 450 
Riots, in Philadelphia and New York 

431 

Roman cities, influence of 6 

Rome, food supply 163; population 
448, 450 

Roumania, city growth 122 

Russia, city growth 105-109; manufac- 
tures 105 

Russian Jews, health of 350 

Saint Louis, population 450; density of 
population 468; suburban travel 
470 

Saloons in New York cities 406-7 

Salvador, concentration of population 

San Francisco, population of in 1852, 22 

Sanitary districts, urban and rural, in 
England 13 

Sanitation and death-rates 233 

"Saturation," point of 51 

Savings, small among common laborers 
in cities 421 

Saxony, city growth 92-3 ; fecundity of 
women 333; illegitimacy 333; in- 
fant mortaHty 362-3; suburban 
growth 458-9 

Scattered populations, in primitive so- 
ciety 3; in France and Italy 9; 
in final classification 16 

School-children, medical inspection of 

354 
Schools, in cities 218; rural districts 
218, 222, 437; urban and rural 

397. 438 
Scotland, urban growth 57-64, esp. 58; 

creation of forest preserves 63 
Sects, religious, in Americrn cities 400-1 
Selection, cities as instruments of natural 

441-5 

Servants, domestic, m migration, 278-9, 
284, 289; from the country 371; 
origin of city 374-6, 391; birth- 
rates 387 

Servia, city growth 121 

Settlement fees proposed to check mi- 
gration 455 

Settlements, social 436 

Sex of migrants 276-280, 284, 290; in 
cities 285-300; atbiith294; causes 
of 294-5; ratio of, effected by 
deaths 297-8 

Sexes, distribution of in the United 
States 279-280 

Shelburne Falls murder 407 

Slums, cheap labor supplied by 206; 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



493 



both cause and effect 210; and 
demolition of tenements 352-3; 
created by the country-born 372; 
connection with high rents 414; 
remedies for 414 

Socialism in cities 219, 435; (social 
legislation) spread of 435 

Society, industrial, likened to an organ- 
ism 159 

Sofia, population 121 

Soil, feitility of, influences location of 
city 172 

Soldiers from city and country 369-72, 

383. 388, 394-7 
Solitude in city and country 432 
South, influence of city growth upon 

the 440 
South Carolina, percentage of urban 

population 20, 32 
Spain, city growth 119 
Specialization, geographical, in middle 

ages 179 
Spectroscope, similarity of city to 442 
Speed of transit system 471 
Spinsters, preponderance in cities 322-7 
Standard of life in city and country 218 
Stature in city and country 393-4 
Steam, relation of to concentration of 

population 158, 173; the factory 

system 192-3 
Steam-power, increase of, in France 78 
Stock-breeding, Bakewell's contribu- 
tions to 165 
Stockholm, relative growth 1 805-1 890, 

no; vital statistics of 181 6-1 890, 

237; marriage rates 320 
Stores, department 190, 195, 413 
Strand, The, in London, population 

since 1801, 464 
Strangers and city government 429-30 
Straw-plaiting, a rural industry 320 
Stream, downward, of failures 443 
Street railways, electric, and density of 

American cities, 469 
Students, birth-place of city 374-7; o* 

Berlin University in war 396 
Suburban annexations, mode of treating 

18-19; ratio to total increase 240; 

of Boston 241 
Suburbs, growth of, in New York 36; 

Massachusetts 37-38; England 51, 

57; Scotland 62; Ireland 65; 

France, 75, 76, 77; Germany 86; 

Austria 95; Denmark 112-113; 

Belgium 116; India 126; Australia 

139, 141 ; movement of factories 



toward 202 ; in England and Ger- 
many 203, 224, 228, 473; move- 
ment to the, from London 276; 
young couples 325; model tene- 
ments in 353; wealth in Frankfort 
373; athletic development in 396- 
7; promotive of health fulness 445; 
grow fastest among Austrian cities 
446, 458; English 446-7; Saxon 
458-9; significance of the growth 
of 458-74; growth of Berlin 465-7; 
Hamburg 467; travel to and from 
470-1; growth of Sydney 472; 
advantages of for manufacturing, 
473; for residences, public policy 
toward 473-4; in Frankfort 474 

Suicide 401-3, 443 

Surrey contains London suburbs 447 

Survival of the unfittest 444 

Susa 448 

" Sweat shop," attitude of society to- 
ward 196-7; and the labor market 
206 

Sweden, definition of cities 7; city 
growth 109-110; vital statistics 
of 1816-90, 237; internal migra- 
tion 249-253; marriage rates 320 

Switzerland, city growth 117; Allmende 
216; internal migration ■2\()-'Zt)T, 

Sydney, population 1891, 138; area 139; 
suburbs 139, 472; growth 141 

Tasmania. See Australia. 

Taxation and cities 214, 425, 428 

Teachers, city vs. country-born 374, 390; 
birth-rates 387 

Tenancy increased by city growth 426 

Tenement population, lack of mobility 
in 221, 456; houses, mortality in 
348-52; legislative policy towards 
351; model 352-3,415; Peabody, 
in London 352; problem of 414; 
overcrowded 416-17; evils in 1593, 

454 

Thebes 6, 448 

Town, Is it urban or rural? 14; vs. town- 
ship 17; in American and English 
usage 17; origin of, from trade l6o, 
171; in middle ages 170, 176; and 
country, differentiation of 1 76 

Township vs. town 17; variations in 
size of 18; average size in principal 
countries 142 

Trade and the food supply 3; internal, 
and city growth 214; in city and 
country 315, 317; city vs. country 
born in 374-81, 391 



494 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Trades, place of the, in industrial evolu- 
tion 159 

Trade Unions, strength of, in cities 205, 
419; attitude of, toward domestic 
industries 456; suburban industries 

473 

Trains, workingmen's, in Belgium 472; 
England 472 

Tramps, influx of, into the cities 420-1 ; 
taking care of, in cities 422 

Transit, rapid, necessity of 354, 41 5, 470- 
4; Belgian solution 47 1-2; English 
solution 472; need of cheap 474 

Transport facilities and the food-supply 3 

Transportation facilities and location of 
cities 1 72; and distribution of popu- 
lation 183; influence upon agricul- 
tural and mining populations 197; 
upon manufacturing populations 
197-204; as a factor in production 
204; city vs. country born in 374- 

81,391 
Transvaal, concentration of population 

137 

Travel, street railway 469 ; suburban, in 
American cities 470 

Trolley car 469-74 

Tunnels under all city streets 458 

Turkey, city growth in European 120; 
Asiatic 122 

Undertakers, see Entrepreneurs. 

Unemployment in cities 420-1 ; Austra- 
lian cities 423 

United States in 1790, compared with 
Australia in 1891, i; density and 
concentration of population 4; 
dwelling centres in, law regarding 
12; number of incorporated cities 
13; statistics of urban growth 20- 
40, esp. 22; census definition of 
urban population 21 ; leading events 
in industrial history 23-27; number 
of farms 26; production of cereals 
26; growth of manufactures 27; 
distribution of its urban population 
28; large cities and villages 29; 
percentage of urban population in 
the individual States and Territories 
31-32; relative rates of increase of 
groups of cities 34-36; distribution 
of population i8co, 1850, 1890, 39- 
40 ; future growth of cities 39; agri- 
cultural progress 167; the grain 
trade 168; factory system 1 87 ; de- 
cline of villages i88; effect of rail- 
way discriminations 199; centrali- 



zation of manufacturing 201-2; 
decentralizing tendencies in manu- 
factures 202-4; rural depopula- 
tion 211; birth and deatli rates in 
cities 241-3 ; statistics of birth-place 
249; decline of inter-state migra- 
tion 251; character of the migra- 
tory movement 263-6; sex of mi- 
grants within the 279-80; surplus 
of women in cities 286, 288; girls 
in cities 292; infantile mortality 
among negroes 296; age-grouping 
301 ; concentration of foreigners 
304-9; natural movement of popu- 
lation 318; conjugal condition 323, 
326; divorces 330; size of families 
336-7; and the theory of popula- 
tion 338-41; death-rates 345-6; the 
insane, feeble-minded, blind, deaf 
and dumb 392; urban and rural 
education 397-8; churches 400-1; 
suicide 401; saloons in New York 
State 406-7; distribution of wealth 
1787 and 1898, 425; tenancy 426; 
city-government 428-31; local 
(rural) government 429; separa- 
tion of social classes 434; suburban 
growth 447-8; density of principal 
cities 468; suburban travel 470 

Urbane, significance of the word 3 

Uruguay, concentration of population 
136; natural configuration 148 

Vagrants in cities 420-2 

Vapors, how carried off in future cities 

Venezuela, concentration of population 

136 

Venice, influence 6, 177 

Vermont 4, 32 

Vice, in cities 404-7 

Victoria, agrarian policy 217. See also 
Australia. 

Vienna, population 1786, 1890, 95; pro- 
portionate growth 96; and the 
railways 97; mobihty of natives 
274; ratio of sexes 278, 291 ; re- 
duction of death rate 356; city and 
country born 372, 378-80; growth 
of suburbs 458 

Vigor of city and country men 368-97 

Village economy 170 

Villages, decline of 188-189; advan- 
tages of, for manufacturing 204-9; 
lack of prizes 213; emigration from, 
produces stagnation 437-8; pro- 
posals to increase attractions of 456 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



495 



Virtues in cities 408-9 

Wages in city and country 411, 412; 
attract immigrants 420 

Waiters, city vs. country born 374-Sl, 
390 

Wales. See England. 

War of I-812, and stagnation of com- 
mercial cities 23; Civil War and 
city growth 26; place of. in indus- 
trial evolution 159. See also Army, 
Military, Soldiers. 

Water communication vs. railways 173; 
rates for city 353; for city houses 
458 

Wealth, growth of, favors concentration 
of population 223-4; distribution 
of, in cities 372-3, 410-11; dis- 
tribution of, in 1787 and 1898, 425 



Wen, similarity of great city to a 439 

Women, greater migrants than men 276- 
280, 284; are short-distance mi- 
grants 279, 2S4; excess of, in cities 
285-9; excess of, in cities, causes 
of 289-300 ; employment of, and 
the marriage rate 320-1; married, 
in factories 361 ; city-born in Ber- 
lin industries 373-6; city-born in 
Vienna industries 378-80 

Workers, percentage of, in city and 
country 315 

Workingmen in cities 419-421; public 
policy toward 474 

Widows, preponderance of, in cities 325 

Yokohama, growth 130 



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